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Kratos

Voiced by: Terrence C. Carson (English, Greek Era), Christopher Judge (English, Norse Era), Antony Del Rio (English, young)^{additional VAs}
Appears in: God of War: Ascension | God of War: Chains of Olympus | God of War | God of War: Ghost of Sparta | God of War: Betrayal | God of War II | God of War III | God of War (2018) | God of War: Ragnarök

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/norse_kratos.png

Above: Kratos in Greece
Below: Kratos in Midgard, with his son Atreus

"The gods of Olympus have abandoned me. Now there is no hope."

The Ghost of Sparta. The Bane of Olympus. Slave of the Gods. Bastard Son of Zeus. Former Servant of Ares. General of Ragnarök. Savior of the Nine Realms.

The God of War.

The Protagonist of the God of War series, Kratos is known by many as the Ghost of Sparta, due to his ashen white skin and his Dark and Troubled Past not unlike that of a traditional Greek tragedy.

Once the brutal captain of the Spartan army, Kratos led his men throughout several conquests all across the lands, eventually coming across a savage Barbarian horde. Confident of his own victory, Kratos led his army into battle, but soon found himself hopelessly outmatched and outclassed. The Barbarians' brutality exceeding his own, and on the verge of death, Kratos struck a deal with the God of War Ares to further his exploits. He would then commit atrocity after atrocity in Ares's name, spreading death throughout the world with his armies and justifying it all by proclaiming his intent to make "the glory of Sparta known throughout the world." For a time, it seemed, his only tether to humanity was his beloved family, yet even they grew horrified by him, to the point where his wife Lysandra would state outright he cared nothing for Sparta's glory, but for his own. He would not listen to her, and continued his rampage, blindly following the will of Ares in his pursuit of more bloodshed and infamy — yet this took a tragic turn when the god tricked him into killing his wife and child, all to destroy what little humanity he had left. Branded the Ghost of Sparta for this terrible deed, the ashes of his wife and child would remain fused to his skin forever.

Completely undone by the killing of his wife and child, Kratos became a constantly-suicidal and greatly-bereaved wreck of a man beloved by none yet known to all. Devoting himself to the other gods of Olympus in a desperate attempt to rid himself of his memories, Kratos would hang on to the small glimmer of hope that perhaps he would one day be able to redeem himself. Yet no matter how many enemies he'd slaughter or how many lives he would save, the gods would continue to put labor upon labor upon Kratos' shoulders, forcing him to endure the pain of his memories for ten long years of servitude. Maddened by his memories and unable to find a moment of peace, Kratos would develop a deep-seated hatred of the gods, and especially Ares in particular, for toying with his life. Though Kratos would eventually defeat Ares and claim the throne of the God of War for his own, his resentment of the other gods would bring him in conflict against all on Olympus, culminating in a cataclysmic series of battles against them that would decide the fate of Greece itself.

In the aftermath of his slaughter of the Olympian pantheon, Kratos moved north to the Norse realm of Midgard. Ashamed of his past and determined to grow beyond his self-destructive behavior, he would live a quiet, normal life masquerading as a mortal. He found love again with a woman named Faye and fathered a son with her, Atreus. When Faye dies, Kratos and Atreus attempt to carry out her final wish — to scatter her ashes from the highest mountain in the nine realms. However, on their journey they come into conflict with various supernatural creatures, particularly a mysterious Stranger who cannot be killed and may be acting under orders from the All-Father of the Norse gods himself, Odin. As events unfold, Kratos is forced to dig up remnants his past, in more ways than one, to defend his son from those that hunt them and see his wife's request through to the end. But despite his desire to move on from the man he once was, every step him and Atreus take brings them closer to the prophecy of Ragnarök: the apocalyptic final battle between Asgard and the other eight realms. With the fate of the Nine Realms hanging in the balance, it seems he may have no choice but to once again go to war with the gods.

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General Tropes

A-F

Accidental Murder: His murder of his wife and child while in a blood frenzy. Athena's death is unintended too — she happened to get in the way of a very angry Kratos.
Action Dad: Is the father of two children (that we know of), and is also an unstoppably powerful warrior who can and will kill most anything that remains in his way.
Ambiguously Brown: Before he got his skin coated with ash, Kratos used to have mildly brown skin. Additionally, both his voice-actors have been African-Americans. That said, both his children are light-skinned, and so are his parents Zeus and Callisto, so where he got his skin tone from is uncertain.
Anti-Hero: Goes through multiple shades of it, zigzagging between this and being a Villain Protagonist. While his anger at the gods may be justified in some cases, the lengths he goes to destroy them are horrific.
Anti-Villain: The Noble or Woobie variations. Basically, what makes him somewhat sympathetic is his frankly depressing backstory and some honorable traits, even respect shown towards others at times, though whether it still holds weight after the horrendous and honestly unjustifiable actions he commits at times is polarizing, to say the least.
Arc Symbol: The Omega (Ω) symbol.
The Atoner: While Kratos does dwell a lot on his family's death, it's mostly just used as a source of his volcanic rage, and his idea of atoning for his actions is partially wishing his bad memories away. Played more straight after he destroys Olympus, where Kratos has come to realize that his constant desire for vengeance in his youth had become little to nothing more than petty immaturity and seeks to end the cycle of violence. The Norse Sage is essentially one long quest to make his son into a better person than Kratos ever was, and though at first he is convinced that he can never become a better person himself, by the end he seems to have realized that he can keep trying.
Bald Head of Toughness: Kratos is never seen with hair, not even as a child, and he's undoubtedly the toughest, stubbornest, deadliest One-Man Army in the series.
Baritone of Strength: Both TC Carson and Christopher Judge play Kratos with a deep, gravelly voice that befits such a badass Spartan warrior. In the Japanese dub, Tesshō Genda and Kenta Miyake also do the same thing as well.
Barbarian Hero: Rather hilariously, since 'barbarian' originally meant 'non-Greek'. He hails from Sparta, by far the most barbaric of all Greek city-states if not one of the most barbarous nations of the Ancient World in general. He's a warrior of pure unadultered physical power and immense savagery, driven by animalistic and atavistic fury, and is often opposed by sorcerous adversaries. Also, in true Barbarian Hero fashion, his first instinct when accosted by beautiful women in scant clothing making advances is to have sex with them. His throne as the Greek God of War was also draped with willing female slaves like a Frazetta piece.
- Emphasized even more after making it to Midgard, in which his aesthetic as a Barbarian is further enhanced by the slightly enormous beard he's grown and the furs he wears. He's also switched out the Blades of Chaos for a battleaxe, a much more classically Barbarian weapon. Ironically enough, his temperament is actually less barbaric than his days in Greece; having found love again, raising a son, and actively reining in his rage.
Bastard Bastard: Born out of wedlock to a Spartan woman named Callisto, it can easily be determined that Kratos growing up without a father figure in the city-state of Sparta contributed to him growing up into the Jerkass he would, at the least, make of himself with some severely callous actions. To his credit, he's always been shown to give some respect to others such as his Spartan army, love and care for his family members (save the Greek Pantheon), and in the Norse Era is actively trying to rein in his worse instincts. Despite his potential for heroism, Kratos can't truly be called a Heroic Bastard because for the longest time, he's been almost entirely too self-serving to have cared about putting himself on the line for others, outside his loved ones.
Been There, Shaped History: Subtly implied with Kratos. Some of his heart to heart conversations paint a picture that he encountered important Greek historical figures, but in a bizarre fantasy Alternate History version of what happened in reality. Kratos makes reference to an old man who made fables (Aesop), claims to have wished he could have died with the 300 Spartans at the Hot Gates (Thermopalye and Leonidas), and he makes reference to the Trojan War poem being inaccurate to the real thing (meaning he probably met guys like Odyessess and Achilles personally). Kratos never expands on these tales in extreme detail, but he says just enough that you can guess the rest.
Berserk Button: While Kratos is in an almost perpetual state of fury or simmering anger and it's a bit hard to tell if he's more irritated than usual, there are a few sore points you don't want to press unless you want to learn the difference in agony between a savage beating and a horribly disfiguring, dismembering, mutilating death. To wit:
- Don't mention how he "failed his family" around him, as that was enough for Kratos to want to rearrange Zeus' dental work with many a solid shot to the face, including a screen covered in blood.
- Don't lie to him or use him as a pawn. Most of his tragedies came from the fact that the gods kept messing with him, and as such he's distrustful of most people, to put it mildly.
- Disrespecting people who have respect from him - one might as well Hera after the goddess badmouthed Pandora.
The Berserker: A lighter version, ironically. Kratos won't let anything stand in his way, and he is full of fiery rage. But he can tell friend from foe in the middle of a fight. He just has way, way more foes than friends. This was sadly played straight the night Ares tricked him into killing Lysandra and Calliope; Kratos was in a blood frenzy at the time and didn't realize what he was doing or who he was attacking until it was too late.
Blade Enthusiast: The trusty Blades of Chaos, later replaced with the near-identical Blades of Athena, and, later still, with the Blades of Exile. As of his entry into Norse Mythology, he's taken up a rough-looking runic battle-axe called the Leviathan Axe. He later retrieves the Blades of Chaos from his home to fight in the deathly cold realm of Helheim to find the cure for Atreus's sickness.
Blood Knight: In his backstory, much to the discontent of his wife. It didn't end well for him, as he ended up facing an opponent who he couldn't defeat. And then he made his Deal with the Devil. After becoming god of war, he engaged again in this, much to the discontent of the other gods. It didn't end well for him, as he ended up facing an opponent he couldn't defeat. And then he made a deal with Gaia, and that went so poorly he ended up just killing most everybody.
Body Horror: The ashes of his wife and daughter are magically fused to his skin, turning it white. Furthermore, the chains of the Blades of Chaos were seared into his forearms, to the point where long after abandoning them, he still has their marks along his flesh. The novelization also reveals that the chains burned so deeply into his arms, the heat's scorched his bones.
Boomerang Bigot: Kratos hates the gods and think of them as untrustworthy at best, even after becoming a god himself and later discovering his Divine Parentage by Zeus. As a result, he doesn’t have a high opinion of himself, either, claming twice that others "shouldn't" expect him to do what is right. Mimir calls him out on this in the Norse era, citing this is as the main source of tension between him and Atreus.
Born Winner: Being the demigod son of Zeus, the Top God himself, has its perks. Those perks are coming Back from the Dead often, Super-Strength to rival or possibly best Hercules, and becoming the leader of the Spartan Army!
Bright Is Not Good: The "Ghost Of Sparta" moniker refers to both his ghost-white skin and him cheating death. He was also a psychotic madman whose rampages caused a lot of suffering.
Breaking the Cycle of Bad Parenting: By the end of God of War (PS4) Kratos absolutely intends to play this straight. He's come to terms with his monstrous behavior being part of this cycle and intends to teach Atreus to be better, becoming a better father in the process.
Broken Ace: One of the greatest warriors the world has to offer... and one of the most troubled.
Brought Down to Badass: For being the tough godslayer that he is, Kratos never manages to hang onto anything he gets for more than one adventure, and will always need to fill out a new arsenal and get his life bar up to maximum length all over again as soon as the player's gotten used to the controls in a sequel.
- This gets lampshaded by the Huldra brothers in Ragnarök, as they ask what happened to all the gear they made for him last time. The actual answer alluded to in-game is that the Fimbulwinter, a cold so devastating that it destroys stone within a few short years, wore it down, but Kratos's own characteristically terse response is that he used it. They ask him to at least try to make his new equipment last longer. He refuses to promise that.
- In Ragnarök, a conversation with Atreus or Freya reveals that with the destruction of the Greek Pantheon, Kratos no longer has access to any of the magical abilities or equipment he obtained in the original games; only the superhuman strength, durability, and agelessness of godhood remain. The Blades of Chaos, the one relic that he cannot ever escape, is the sole piece of his old arsenal left, and even they are falling apart before Brok and Sindri give them a Nordic makeover.
  - However, through Valhalla, Kratos regains access to the Blade of Olympus while using Spartan Rage.
Bruiser with a Soft Center: Underneath his toughened, battle-scarred exterior, Kratos is a man who wants to have a family and friends above all else. When he’s not dismembering monsters with his bare hands, he can be quite gentle and loving when he wants to. His children, Calliope and Atreus, bring out this side of him better than anyone else.
Bullying a Dragon: A walking breathing dragon who is a One-Man Army capable of ending giant monsters and gods like it's a normal day for him. To be fair, he has wanted to avoid fights when possible, but his opponents' hubris ends up their undoing, and they would end up leaving many a bloody smear on a wall. This includes the Norse entries when he just want to go on his way, but the Aesir end up being a roadblock in his journey.
Byronic Hero: Kratos is characterized mainly by his desperate desire to escape the many atrocities that plague his past, culminating in a vicious cycle of events wherein he would constantly commit more atrocities when his guilt over his actions, and his rage at his terrible life, overwhelm him. He's been near-utterly self-concerned, uncaring of any set standards or values from society and even the gods. He is deeply cynical and world-weary, often dwelling on the many injustices brought upon him by the gods, and yet unable to truly accept or forgive himself for his own transgressions. But when the chips are down and Kratos has something he truly wants to fight for, he gives it everything he has, often to the point of self-defeat.
Calling Parents by Their Name: Downplayed. Though Kratos absolutely cares for his mother and calls her as is, once he finds out who his father is, Kratos still refers to Zeus by his name; the only times he called him "father" he does in a mocking, condescending tone. Considering what a Jerkass God he was, you can't blame him. He still does so in Midgard, but has since mellowed out.
Cartwright Curse: Any woman Kratos has gotten romantically involved with ends up dead, sooner or later. His first wife, Lysandra, was killed by him completely by accident, as all part of a machination by Ares to deaden Kratos' humanity. Kratos' Second Love Faye died in much more peaceful circumstances, and he was even given the closure of giving her a proper funeral, something he could never achieve with Lysandra.
Character Development: Despite being infamous among the gaming community for being one of the most monomaniacal characters in all of gaming history, Kratos has gone through more ups and downs in his personality than one would expect. The extent of which is detailed in the folders below, but for a general overview: Kratos grows from a blood-drunk Glory Hound, to a violently depressed and suicidal shell, to an out-and-out Villain Protagonist almost entirely only out for himself, to a gruff but stern Cynical Mentor who only wants to protect his son from harm... and ultimately have Atreus be a better person than he was, and then ultimately willing to become a God once again in order to let Midgard heal from the Aesir's atrocities.
Child Soldier: He was taken to the agōgē with the specific intent of being one. Both he and his brother Deimos were trained at young ages, and he becomes a very effective warrior well into adulthood. His Spartan training however worked too well.
The Chosen One: An Oracle prophesied that one day, a mortal "Marked Warrior" would take up arms against the Greek gods and destroy all of Olympus. The Olympians initially assume that Kratos' brother Deimos was the Marked Warrior thanks to his peculiar birthmarks, but Thanatos manages to figure out that the prophecy spoke of Kratos, the eponymous "mark" being the ashes of his wife and child fused to his skin. And when Kratos later moves up to Midgard, it is revealed that his coming was prophesied by Faye and the Jötnar, and that Kratos became known to them as the "cruel striker" Fárbauti, known in Norse myth only for his role as the father of Loki.
Color Motif: Kratos is strongly associated with the color red, with all the associations of anger, violence and bloodshed. This is displayed via his tattoo, his Greek-era clothing, the red orbs he collects, and the massive amounts of literal and metaphorical blood on his hands. From 2018 onwards it gains connotations of somewhat more straightforward heroism.
Combat Pragmatist: Kratos will use whatever means and dirty tricks to defeat his enemies. If he figures out an enemy's weakness, he'll gladly and quickly take advantage of it. Just ask all the cyclopes whose eyes had been ripped out of their sockets, or Hercules, who he performed a sneak attack behind his back and then pinned him underneath a very heavy floor that Herc was going to use against him before beating him to death.
Composite Character: Kratos is a combination of several different characters: he shares the same name with the Anthropomorphic Personification of power, while his backstory was inspired by Heracles (who ended up a separate character later on) as a demigod son of Zeus who murdered his family in a fit of madness and spent several years trying to atone for it. The 2018 game combines him with characters from Norse mythos such as Farbauti due to being Loki's father, Hodr due to killing Baldur, and Odin himself, since he carries Mimir's head in his belt.
- Chief Developer Cory Balrog has also gone on record to state that the Primary Inspiration for Kratos' persona in ''God Of War (2018)'' draws upon The Gunman William Munny played by Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven. Stated by Eastwood to be an Older and Wiser "Man With No Name" from the Dollars Trilogy of Spaghetti Western directed Sergio Leone, Munny (like Kratos) is also an elderly Retired Monster spurred into action by the death of his wife, returning to a life of murder that he tried to leave behind for One Last Job, to build a better life for his child.
Cosmic Plaything: Deconstructed. Kratos' life went down the drain the moment he gave his life to Ares, and later on he develops a hatred of gods that only gets worse the more they toy with his life. Not only does this hatred spur Kratos to action against them when he reaches his Rage Breaking Point, it allows him a means to blind himself to his own faults and failings—eternally blaming the gods for all his problems (even when they're self-inflicted) until it's too late. He tries to move past this mindset by the time he makes it to Midgard, and imparts upon his son the importance of responsibility and discipline in order to protect the boy. In Ragnarök, the Norns reveal that the gods never dictated what path he would choose but just exploited his existing flaws. Realizing that he was truly responsible for how badly his life went, Kratos pushes himself to be better, which ends up incidentally pushing him out of this trope completely.
Crusading Widower: Twice. He accidentally killed his first wife due to the trickery of Ares, and spends the entirety of the very first game trying to kill the God of War in revenge. The second time he marries, his wife died in presumably more peaceful circumstances, and Kratos at least has the closure of cremating her and eventually spreading her ashes atop quite a high place.
Cultured Badass: Very downplayed during the Greek Era, but it was shown in God of War: Chains of Olympus that Kratos was a skilled enough woodcarver to hand-carve a flute for his daughter to play. The Norse Era and especially God of War Ragnarök would delve much deeper into this aspect of Kratos, revealing that he has an appreciation for poetry (specifically citing The Iliad as his favorite poem), music (he mentions that he can play the lyre), and plays (he disagrees with Mimir about how Greek Plays would relate events by having a character talk about them, as opposed to showing them while discussing Oedipus the King).
Dance Battler: The only reason Kratos' trademark twin blades work as well as they do on the battlefield is because, despite his savagery, Kratos is the only one with enough brutality yet enough grace to handle them with such finesse and skill. The Leviathan Axe he gains in the Norse entries lends itself to a more methodical moveset of course, but when Kratos retrieves the Blades of Chaos, they use the same moveset from the Greek entries. Even after what must have been a long time of refusal to use them, he never missed a step.
Deadpan Snarker:
- He shows some signs of this in the third game.
  Hephaestus: Kratos. I thought that Zeus would have killed you by now.
  Kratos: I thought you would have escaped this cavern by now.
- He doesn't pull any punches with his son, either.
  Atreus: What're we hunting?
  Kratos: You are hunting deer.
  Atreus: Which way?
  Kratos: In the direction of deer.
Death Glare: Pretty much all the time. In Midgard, despite mostly having his back to the player, he gives several obvious ones to people who annoy him or threaten his son, but none more hateful and seething than the one he gives to Athena's ghost when she implies he is merely pretending to be a father.
Defiant to the End: Although, all things considered, dying is more or less a Wednesday for him, so he knows he can get back to fight another day.
Deity of Human Origin: While Kratos was the son of Zeus, his mother was mortal which makes him a demi-god. However, later he is raised up to Olympus as a full fledged god. While Zeus strips him of his power in the second game, Kratos gains more power through the second and third games to the point where he can kill any of the Greek gods including Zeus. Even after he finishes and almost dies at the end of God of War III, it's implied that he still has the full power of a god as with most pantheons, the Greek one revolves around You Kill It, You Bought It, with a god's power inherited from another god that kills them or from their own offspring. This is further implied as Kratos ends up perhaps thousands of years old in Midgard without aging all that much and is still super strong and capable of killing gods.
Deliberate Values Dissonance: His brutality, selfishness, and almost utter lack of scruples are all right in line with the values of the source of inspiration, and if anything, he's probably less of a dick overall than many other classical heroes. This actually gets played up when Kratos is forced to raise Atreus by himself in Midgard, as Atreus’s more virtuous and selfless nature heavily conflicts with Kratos’s pragmatic and often self-focused mindset.
Destroyer Deity: It's heavily implied come the end of Ghost of Sparta that Kratos has become this. The shadow of death has always been a part of Kratos from the very beginning, but after Kratos kills Thanatos, god of death in vengeance, he's left in a rare moment of self-awareness and wonders aloud what he's become, all the while with a rae, almost uncharacteristically somber tone of voice. The Gravedigger answers Death, the Destroyer of Worlds, implying that Kratos has now taken Thanatos' place and has inherently become the God of Death as well as War. This development is especially relevant come the events of II, where he outright declares war upon the Greek Gods for their transgressions against him. Sadly, even after Kratos' migration from Greece to Midgard, it's revealed that Kratos' son is likely destined to follow in his father's footsteps and bring about the destruction of the Norse pantheon, as well as the rest of the Nine Realms... and Kratos killing Baldur is what helps set it all off hundreds of years too early. Really, it'd be weird at this point if Kratos couldn't be classified as a Destroyer Deity.
Determinator: Nothing will stand in his way. Whether it's the Gods, the Sisters of Fate, the legions of Hades, the army of Rhodes, the Titans, monsters, or "heroes" from all the corners of Greece, Kratos is more than up to the challenge. Hell, not even Death itself can stop him. Literally, in Ghost of Sparta, Kratos actually kills Thanatos. And by Zeus saying he has become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds, one can theorize that Kratos has inherently became the God of Death himself.
Didn't Think This Through: Throughout the series, it's been shown time and again that Kratos can be quite shortsighted. This is a flaw that costs him just as much as his selfishness or his refusal to take responsibility for his actions. Much of the plot of the original series could have been avoided if Kratos literally just stopped and thought for a second about what effect his actions could have on himself and those around him. He does get better as time passes, especially by the time he moves up north, but he still shows shades of it in his interactions with Atreus, to whom he withholds the truth of his Divine Parentage until the boy’s life gets put in danger because of it. It takes a visit to the Norns in Ragnarok for Kratos to realise that the predictable nature of his hasty actions is what defined his fate all along, and overcoming it is the only way he can Screw Destiny.
Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Expect Kratos to kill at least one god and at least one creature of great size and intimidating appearance once every game. But just like other legendary heroes, he is half-Cthulhu himself, being a god born from Zeus.
Disappeared Dad: His mother raised him and his brother by herself. Kratos eventually finds out who his father is, and is none too happy to learn that, of all people, it's Zeus.
Distinguishing Mark: His ash-white skin marks him as the Ghost of Sparta. Also, his signature red markings across his face and arm.
Does Not Like Magic: He has no love for the gods and isn't too welcoming of magic; he'll use whatever magical gifts are bestowed upon him for practical reasons, but losing access to them is no real hardship, given his preference for killing with his bare hands. He wears the ashes of his original family because an oracle cursed them on to him. He also grabs the Witch's hand when she tries to put a magic sigil on his neck for solitude.
The Dog Bites Back: It could be argued Kratos's entire life both during the Greek and Norse eras is a particularly intense case of this, as his Trauma Conga Line has pretty much curbed all ambition he once had as a Spartan general and is more concerned with wanting to be left alone to his device or (in the case of the Norse era) ensuring the safety for his new family — but he is constantly pressed with either the possibilities offered by false promises or the deliberate machinations of the Gods of both realms that, eventually, is it any surprise that Kratos snaps when they insist on Bullying the Dragon?
Don't Make Me Destroy You: He typically gives characters in his way that he is not out to kill a single chance to walk, which is never heeded due to either their sense of duty or their hubris (or a combination of both).
The Dreaded: His infamous reputation as the Ghost of Sparta. On more than one occasion during the first game, the citizens of Athens are actually more terrified of him than of the monsters attacking them and prefer certain death to being saved by him. In the third game, Pandora generally, if not outright states that everyone — including the Olympians — is scared of Kratos.
- His reputation does not die with Greece. Mimir, a Norse god of wisdom, is taken aback when he realizes Kratos is the Ghost of Sparta, and it's implied that the rest of the Norse pantheon knows his history as well.
- Odin tries to act like he's in total control of the situation and has nothing to fear when he meets Kratos, but a little reading between the lines shows he's definitely afraid of Kratos and really doesn't want to fight him. Their first meeting sees Odin trying to get Kratos to not oppose Asgard, he noticeably flinches back when Kratos threatens him in mid-game (though he quickly recovers and trash-talks Kratos), and immediately responds to Kratos telling him to stop moving after he kills Brok.
Emotional Bruiser: To quote Kelly Turnbull on the topic:
Anyway, I'm of the opinion that Kratos is a bit of an anomaly in the world of Macho Action Dudes, in that he is just a bottomless sieve of emotions. Like, usually action dudes have their moment of unrestrained rage at the end of the story to prove What A Badass Dude they can be, that Super Saiyan “You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry” moment where they let it all out. Kratos, on the other hand, is like… perpetually exhaustingly angry. And when he runs out of angry, he’s sad. He’s just this constant torrent of unrestrained heart-on-his-sleeve emotional whiplash. He’s never the cocky, aloof, too-cool-for-school emotionally distant robot you expect to play in a macho action dude game, he just kind of exists in this cycle of getting all angried out and trying to kill himself until someone on the suicide watch crew can find him a new thing to be angry about. He’s the only game hero I can think of who’s like “Oh man, I checked everything off my to-do list and now I’m out of things to be mad at, I am so drained I think I’m going to kill myself now”.
Escaped from Hell: He's escaped from various underworlds and afterlives a grand total of six times. He even makes it a Badass Boast in III, saying "The gates of Hades have never held me!” In the first Norse entry of the series, he’s even escaped Helheim, the realm for those who died dishonorably, after being flung straight past the point of no return. Mimir is quick to note that he wouldn’t have to escape Helheim if Kratos hadn’t killed the gatekeeper, who usually stops living souls from crossing the bridge, the first time he visited the realm.
Experienced Protagonist: By the time of the first game, he's already a seasoned Spartan warrior. It also counts by the time he enters Midgard, as he had the whole original series as experience.
Expository Hairstyle Change: Goes from having a goatee in the original series to a full mountain man beard to signify his Older and Wiser status and newfound maturity. It also considerably softens his features, hiding his Villainous Cheekbones and allowing him to play the Gentle Giant when the situation calls for it.
Evil Parents Want Good Kids: Kratos, even when causing evil without much of a thought, showed no intentions for his daughter to be the ruthless warrior he was, even though Calliope was considered unfit by Spartan standards. Having calmed considerably by the time he settles in Midgard, he's very adamant about making sure that Atreus doesn't turn out like him, let alone how he used to be.
Evil Weapon: Implied with the Blades of Chaos, whose power often tempts and enable Kratos to commit all sorts of atrocities. Even when Kratos tries to get rid of them after leaving Greece, they always return to him, refusing to let their master forget his tormented past. Subverted in the Norse Saga, in which Kratos decides to use them for good and seemingly gains some amount of respect for them.
Fashionable Asymmetry: Starting with II, Kratos begins to wear armor on his right shoulder and arm only. At first, it is the Golden Fleece, but Kratos has cast it aside for other pieces of armor for the retool (though he can equip a full suit of armor).
Fatal Flaw: Considering his personality is largely based off characters in Greek Mythology, it's no surprise that this trope comes into play. Kratos, however, is not necessarily beset by one huge major flaw that plagues his character; rather he's faced with multiple character flaws that often overlap, causing him way more trauma than he can handle, most of the time. These are expounded upon in the folders below.
Fight Magnet: Kratos is always getting into a fight with someone or something. He's been involved with a prophecy or two and people either fight him to prove their worth or to take his former title as the god of war. By the 2018 game, Kratos has stayed under the radar for a century and has still managed to find a fight when Baldur came to the door and started one.
Mimir: Why don't you tell me how all this began with Baldur?
Atreus: He just knocked on our door!
Mimir: Baldur of Asgard just knocked on your door?
Atreus: Yeah, he just showed up and started a fight

G-R

Genius Bruiser: Can go toe-to-toe with gods as well as solve puzzles and death traps.
- It's also worth noting that Kratos was not only a general, but the youngest general in the renowned Spartan army. That takes some serious brainpower.
- A downplayed but relatively understated example from the 2018 game: when trying to retrieve Thamur’s chisel, Kratos, Mimir, and Atreus find it buried deep in ice so thick Mimir points out that Thor, even wielding the full might of Mjolnir, was unable to break it and get the chisel. It takes Kratos all of a few seconds to analyze his surroundings and quickly come up with a plan on the spot to retrieve it using Thamur’s own gigantic hammer. Kratos even gets in a dig at Thor for failing to realize this.
Good Counterpart:
- "Good" is a stretch, but even at his lowest, Kratos is this to Ares during his tenure as the God of War. While hardly a paragon, Kratos was at least respected by Sparta, had loved ones, had a sympathetic background, and his rebellion against Zeus was him responding to being mistreated one too many times. On the other hand, Ares was despised by everybody, treated everybody contemptuously, and rebelled against Zeus only to fulfill his selfish desire to rule over Olympus.
- To Thor, at the start of Ragnarök. Thor is essentially what Kratos would have been if he had continued to serve under Zeus or Ares: a ruthless enforcer who revels in the destruction they cause and is feared by all. Kratos' Leviathan Axe is even meant in-universe as a good counterpart to Thor's Mjolnir.
- To Odin; by the end of Ragnarök, Kratos is everything that the All-Father is not, being honest, forthright, loyal, just, and a good father. The ending even implies that Kratos is destined to become Odin's polar opposite; unlike the tyrannical Top God, Kratos is shown in a mural becoming a beloved figure, having healed the wounds Odin left on the Nine Realms.
Good Parents: For all his flaws, he was this to Calliope, given the fact that his most humanizing moments in the original games are when he's with her. He also becomes one to Atreus, though Kratos at first struggles to emotionally bond with him in God of War (2018). By the end of the game, they become much closer.
- In Ragnarok, this is a bit complicated as Atreus and Kratos have a more strained bond due to the former's worries of prophecy and the latter's closed off personality, their bond is still stronger than the start of the previous game. Indeed, as Kratos is more concerned about Atreus' safety and does anything he can to drive him off the prophecy. A visit to the Norns, has him realizing his flaws in his own personality being a part of why his bond with Atreus is strained, as he is desperately relying on him to not relpase to his past. Unsuprisingly, when Atreus returns being regretful by releasing Garm, where everybody else: even Freya and Mimir are angered, it's Kratos who comforts and reassures his son that they will fix the issue.
Guilt Complex: A suprisingly realistic example; the impetus for much of Kratos's Never My Fault tendencies lies in how much he grows more to hate himself for the many terrible things he's done. His inability to accept the weight of his own atrocities, coupled with his inability to forgive himself for them, leads him to commit more atrocities in a vicious cycle to stave off his own guilt. While much of his anger directed towards the gods is understandable, a large portion of it is just him projecting his inner self-loathing onto them. Even hundreds of years later, when he’s managed to get away from Greece and his terrible past, he’s haunted constantly by everything he’s done, and hopes for Atreus to not make the same mistakes he once did.
Hair-Trigger Temper: Throughout his time in Greece, Kratos has a predisposition for Unstoppable Rage that would put most other examples of this trope to shame. After leaving Greece, however, he actively makes attempts to control and refine his rage, to the point where he would “train” by actively getting ravaged by wolves, all the while choosing not to fight back—just to see if he can go through a single tussle without giving in to anger. Still, if a being push him hard enough, he’ll just unload and said corpse had might as well be paint by the time he’s done.
Half-Human Hybrid: He is a demigod, after all.
Has a Type: If Lysandra and Faye are anything to go by, Kratos seems to have a thing for kind-hearted women who can stand up to him and/or kick ass themselves.
Heel–Face Turn: After an unbelievable amount of bloodshed in the third game; however, it was too late for him to truly fix all the collateral damage. This is taken further after the setting shift to Norse Mythology. Over the years, Kratos has worked on taming his rage and has a better understanding about the responsibilities and consequences that come with being a Physical God.
Heroic Build: Well, anti-heroic at the very least. Ragnarök sees Atreus ask him in one conversation if being a god means he'll ever grow muscles like his father; Kratos replies that, while his strength is still innately that of a god's, his body has been honed by discipline and testing his limits.
His Own Worst Enemy: For most of the Greek era, Kratos tried to externalize his flaws, to the point of rejecting blame to horrific effect. No matter what he did, it was in the service of the Cycle of Revenge, even if he had what happened to him coming. It takes his Heel Realization at the end of God of War III to get him to stop thinking this, and his Rage Against the Heavens shifts into his belief as My Greatest Failure by the Norse era, to the point of shame at almost everything he did as a god. While at this point he still externalizes it to a hatred of gods in general, he hates none of them as much as himself for his Jumping Off the Slippery Slope Never My Fault complex and role in the Cycle of Revenge, and has become somberly aware that he is to blame for many of his own problems. Mimir eventually flat out says it to him:
Mimir, to Kratos: Look, I get it. You hate the gods. All gods. It's no accident that includes yourself.
Hot-Blooded: With his volume constantly on maximum and his be-as-visceral-as-possible fighting style, you will feel his fury. By the Norse era, this seems to have leveled out on the surface, but his Spartan Rage makes the fact that it’s more kept in restraint than outright gone.
Hunk: Very muscular, very manly, and quite the ladykiller — figuratively speaking...
Hypocrite:
- Kratos's whole motive throughout the original series is revenge for the deaths of his family, but he killed countless men and thus tore up families without hesitation or even realization during his service to Ares and shows little to no hesitation to doing the same during his quest for vengeance. Not to mention he eventually rages at Zeus for trying to kill him, when he’s killed, directly or otherwise, ‘’thousands’’ more people and for even more petty reasons.
- In the first Norse entry, when Kratos is pissed that Freya concealed the fact that she's a goddess, she dryly points out that he's not really in a position to point fingers. Kratos ultimately concedes the point, and works to correct it over the course of the game.
I Am a Monster: Kratos knows just what kind of person he really is, but has a very difficult time coming to terms with it, since it would mean actually owning up to his actions. In the original Greek entries and even after moving to Midgard, Kratos has resigned himself to the fact that the many terrible things he's done can't be redeemed in any proper sense. He, twice in God of War III, tells others that they "shouldn't" expect him to do the right thing. But by the time of God of War (PS4), he has at least learned that while he cannot be redeemed, he will always have the chance to be better, and as such strives towards that goal.
Immune to Fate: In II, when the Sisters of Fate refuse to grant Kratos control over his own destiny, he decides he will take it using his force. After a brutal fight, he manages to trap two of the Sisters in a dimensional mirror and then shatters it, erasing them both from existence, while kills the last one by impaling her skull with a giant blade. Having being able to destroy the primordial beings who control Destiny, Kratos is undoubtedly capable to overcome Fate. In God of War (PS4), he manages to kill Baldur hundreds of years before his fated death, triggering Ragnarök way earlier than was prophesied. Mimir even lampshades that Kratos has "changed something." See Spanner in the Works below for more details.
- Ultimately deconstructed, it's revealed in Ragnarök that Kratos is Immune to Fate because predestined fate doesn't actually exist. The Sisters of Fate don't control destiny, they merely predict the future and retroactively meddle with the past to influence events, which is why they are forced to battle with Kratos at all instead of simply decreeing that he dies. Of course, this also means that Kratos has no one but himself to blame for the consequences of his own choices.
Implacable Man: No amount of monsters, warriors, obstacles, traps, or Gods will stop Kratos from getting his revenge. Even death itself is little more than a delay for Kratos.
Irony: The deaths of Lysandra and Calliope, along with their ashes grafted on his body, sets his long self-destructive path of vengeance. The death of Faye and her ashes sets his long self-reflective path of inner peace.
It's All About Me:
- This guy killed a pantheon rather than admit that maybe, just maybe, something was his own damn fault. Most evident in the second game, when he starts doing the exact same thing that Ares did, i.e. the thing that prompted the gods to help Kratos kill him, by violently conquering lands. Then he claims that the Gods of Olympus betrayed him by stopping him. This gets called out in the third game, where Hermes gives him a Breaking Speech on how his path only leads to destruction and Kratos undergoes a slow Heel Realization. Also lampshaded in the first game, where it's shown in a flashback that his wife Lysandra refused to believe that his brutality was for "the glory of Sparta" as he claims, telling him that he does it all for his own personal glory.
- Downplayed in God of War (PS4). While he's not as bad as he was before, he still actively endangers Atreus's life — despite warnings from both Freya and Mimir — by refusing to tell Atreus about their true nature as gods because he's too ashamed of his past and is more interested in hiding from it than facing it. He gets better, but not until it's nearly too late.
Jerkass: He's an extremely unpleasant human being (especially during the Greek era), even while enough scenes indicate he was not all the way there. His family's death isn't an excuse either: flashbacks show that he was largely and loudly liable to be a giant douche before as well, having ruthlessly doomed many a soldier and likely civilians with families and realizing little to nothing about it even while brooding for his wife and child. Kratos appears to have two default settings, one being molten fury who has, in II and III, used living people as tools for painful sacrifices (once telling one to "die with honor") to get past obstacles, and the other who, while not trying to be a snide, rude asshole, quickly loses his mind and gets very dangerous. He once stated himself that he cares little for the issues of mankind and the gods alike.
- Even after a ton of Character Development, he still demonstrates a self-centredness that seems more out of pragmatism’s sake than anything from callousness. That being said, the script in the PS4 game would still insert unkind lines of dialogue to contradict his desire through the story to let others be (as, despite not trusting gods at all, he was not out to kill Baldur) and have his relatively cheerful son Atreus be a better person than he was.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Although on a couple of occasions he has decided to take things into account and show a more selfless, caring side to him. Ascension, despite being a prequel to other games' stories, has a few scenes where he shows others some respect, such as pushing an unknown man away from an incoming spear. Upon arriving at Midgard, he’s mellowed out a lot more thanks to Faye and Atreus, and actively starts helping people at his son’s urging midway through the game. By the next installment, he is more likely to reach out to help others, on some level.
Kill the God: His entire MO throughout the series. In Greece, he initially wanted to kill Ares only for tricking him to murdering his own family. Though he later set his sights on all the Gods of Olympus, especially his father Zeus for killing him and betraying him (among other things). His quest for vengeance resulted in nearly every major god and powerful deity slain in Greece, including but not limited to Zeus, Thanatos, Hades, Ares, Poseidon, the Sisters of Fate, the Furies, Chronos, and so on.
- He's a lot more self-restrained by the time he reaches Norway, only killing the Nordic gods out of self-defense and for threatening him and his friends. Still, Magni, Baldur, and Heimdall learned their lesson the hard way.
Kinslaying Is a Special Kind of Evil: He earned the title Ghost of Sparta after accidentally killing his first family during a berserker rage, something arranged by Ares; the oracle of the village where it happened proceeded to use a spell to fuse their ashes to Kratos' skin, ensuring the mark of his "terrible deed" would be known to all. Kratos himself was so horrified that he instantly renounced his servitude to Ares. In III, Cronos spitefully calls him "a coward who kills his own kin," though he has little room to talk.
Lack of Empathy: More often than not. This exchange from III stands out:
Athena: As we speak, the war for Olympus rages on and mankind suffers.
Kratos: Let them suffer. The death of Zeus is all that matters.
- In God of War (PS4) this is instead played for drama. Kratos can't relate to Atreus's grief when Faye dies and he's never had a normal relationship with his father. The arc of the story is having Kratos learn how to open up to Atreus and move on his past.
Last of His Kind: After the death of the Last Spartan in the original timeline. And by the end of III, he’s the last living remnant of the Greek pantheon of gods, discounting Atreus, who is only half-Greek.
Like Father, Unlike Son: Both of his children are nothing like him. Calliope appears to be a sweetheart, if even just compared to her father, before her tragic death. However, he is deliberately attempts to make Atreus to be anything but his worst possible traits. He is a bit successful with his son.
The Lost Lenore: Make no mistake, Kratos is indeed capable of love and compassion, as much as they're buried under a boatload of cynicism, callousness, and self-loathing. Killing his first wife Lysandra (along with his daughter Calliope) sent him in a spiral of torment and self-destruction, that culminated in him becoming even more of a psychopath than he'd already been. You'd think he would've gotten over the pain of loss by the time he reaches Midgard, but losing his second wife Faye clearly takes a toll on him even then.
Atreus: I guess you never really get over losing the ones you care about.
Kratos: Hmph. Never.
Maddened Into Misanthropy: What could easily be one of the BEST explanations for why Kratos turns out the way he does over the course of the story! As demonstrated early on, Kratos, wasn't exactly a saint, but he was a far better person at the beginning of his journey during his time in Greece than the person he became later on by the time of The Second Titanomachy.
- From Ascension, Kratos demonstrates that, despite his anger and his desire for vengeance, he is perfectly capable of sympathy, as shown when he attempts to save the Oracle of Delphi, Alethia, and, when that didn't work, comforted her in her final moments.
- Also later on in in Ascension, he also showed concern for others, as, when he arrived at the ruined Statue of Apollo, when a hoard of enemies attacks as workers attempt to flee, he pushes a final worker out of the way, saving his life before engaging the group of enemies
- Something else worth mentioning as well, is that, from Ascension, until, Ghost of Sparta, Kratos has also been known to say, "by The Gods,' every now and then, showing that somewhere, deep down, perhaps he still had a sense of, if not reverence, at least respect for them. Unfortunately, that is all thrown out the window due to the Olympians' constant manipulating and hypocritical behavior which caused him to resent them for not helping him despite him even going out of his way to complete various tasks for them and even SAVING THE WORLD from being destroyed!
- Kratos was also remorseful for accidentally killing Athena when the latter stepped in front of him to shield Zeus at the end of II).
- As of III, Kratos displays near-complete apathy for the suffering and well-being of others around him and is only concerned with obtaining vengeance, not caring if he destroys his homeland and the world in the process, but, through all of that bitterness, along with generally leaving those not in his way be, he does understand and then shows care for Pandora, and he attempts to stop her from sacrificing herself to The Flame of Olympus so as to gain access to Pandora's Box.
Made of Iron: Even if he's no longer a god, he still can take punishment such as physical hits strong enough to kill an average person. Justified in that he is Zeus's son, making him a demigod.
Magic Knight: While by no means a skilled mage by enthusiasm, Kratos always ends up coming across a variety of magical powers and/or artifacts in every game that he uses to either solve puzzles or devastate his enemies.
Manly Facial Hair: Originally had a goatee in the Greek trilogy, and in the Norse duology has a large full beard that takes up his whole jaw. This also counts as symbolism, as beards in Norse mythology represent wisdom and maturity.
Manly Tears: For his ragaholic tendencies, Kratos is very capable of sadness, such as losing those closest to him and his first family. He gets on Atreus for thinking he had no empathy in the first Norse entry, but has the need to clarify that he does mourn for Faye, but they have to stay on task at hand. But the perfect example of this is at the end of Ragnarök where he sees a mural made by Faye where he becomes a beloved god in the Nine Realms.
Mark of Shame:
- Cursed to bear the ashes of his murdered family forever, turning his skin ghostly-pale.
- His eye scar and tattoo as well. He gained this scar when he tried to stop Ares from taking Deimos, while the tattoo is a tribute to Deimos, who had a birth mark with the same shape. In other words, his whole body is a Mark of Shame.
- In God of War 2018, the scars of the chains on his arm become one as well. He spends most of the game hiding them in cloth wraps. Naturally, at the end of the game Kratos is more at peace with who he was and discards these wraps.
Master of All: There is no form of combat or warfare Kratos isn't an expert at, if not the best in the setting. His unique Blades of Chaos aside, he's skilled with wielding a shield, spear, sword, axe, hand-to-hand striking, grappling, etc., not to mention an experienced wartime leader. He's an Instant Expert with whatever magical tools he gets his hands on—some of them are noted to require years, if not decades of dedication to master. He can sneak by traps and defenses when he wants to, striking from a complete blind spot, or simply march in through the front door while bashing heads. There's a reason he's unanimously voted as the general in the final battle of Ragnarök.
Meaningful Name: "Kratos" means "strength" or "power" in Greek. And Fárbauti means "cruel striker", which sometimes theorized to be a kenning of Lightning, the power of his own father.
Miles to Go Before I Sleep: In Greece, Kratos had nothing to lose in his path vengeance and would only consider his own death once he's calmed down. By the Norse Era, Kratos gives himself purpose by raising Atreus and ensuring that he has the means to protect himself from those who desire to harm him.
Kratos: Death can have me, when it earns me.
Morality Pet: His family. In III, Pandora, whose very presence reminds him of the daughter he once had. And in after falling in love with Faye, she and his son Atreus become this to him to an even greater extent, as the latter's presence actively reminds Kratos to restrain himself and be a better person. Kratos also will appear to be one to Atreus as well; since the boy is in fact Loki, and Kratos’s prophesied death in front of Atreus will likely mark the beginning of Ragnarök.
Multi-Melee Master: In every game Kratos usually wields an assortment of melee weapons with near unmatched power and expertise. In just Ragnarök alone, he has the powerful Lethiathen Axe, the long reaching Blades of Chaos, and finally the Draupnir spear.
My God, What Have I Done?:
- Making the deal with Ares that indirectly led to the trilogy and beyond.
- Killing his own family in a bloodthirsty rampage. Kratos is so ashamed of it that it's one of the only things not told to Atreus.
- Killing Athena by accident as she threw herself in front of Zeus to save Olympus.
- The entire original trilogy is a long one to Kratos. Especially after he found out he was played by Athena to kill the whole Pantheon so that she reigns as the only Goddess.
- And as revealed in God Of War (2018), he was not too happy after all with killing his own father, Zeus, just as it was implied at III's end that he realized leaving the world around him in ruins was wrong.
My Greatest Failure:
- Three in the original trilogy. Failing to save his little brother Deimos from being kidnapped, murdering his family by accident, and failing to save Pandora.
- In God of War (2018), his entire rage-fuelled god-slaying rampage has become one big collective failure on his part, one he's too ashamed of to speak of openly to his son. His greatest secret is killing his own father, Zeus, as revealed by the illusions in Hel. This is the very last secret he reveals to his son.
Naytheist: He interacts with the gods on a regular basis, but he by no means worships them and openly declares them to be useless. Considering all of the shit they've put him through, one can't honestly blame him. This did not improve by the time of God of War (PS4) where he now lives in the domain of the Norse Gods, but holds disdain for them and human's worship. He tells Atreus that "men should never pray to monsters" and believed for some time, "there are no good gods".
- He becomes significantly less hostile about this by the time of Ragnarök, having met several divine beings that were fundamentally decent people. He doesn't believe that being a god inherently entitles a person to worship, but he recognizes that they aren't inherently monstrous either and can become worthy of respect through action.
Never Found the Body: The post-credits scene in God of War III shows Kratos's body missing from the spot where he stabbed himself, and a trail of blood leading over a nearby ledge, raising the possibility that Kratos had survived even his Heroic Sacrifice. Indeed, he did, and made his way up to Midgard.
Never My Fault: The bulk of his turmoil is caused by an inability to blame himself. Our Spartan friend prefers to point fingers at the gods rather than own up to what he's done. That being said, it's made clear throughout the series and its spin-offs that he's perfectly aware of how atrocious his actions throughout the series have been, but he simply can't bear the weight of all of them because the pain's just too much. By the time he finally realizes this and the full consequences of his actions in III, it's seemingly too late to fix anything. After moving to Midgard, Kratos has taken great pains to move past this mindset of his, but it rears up every now and again; Kratos would constantly criticize and be gruff with his son Atreus, yet would rarely chastise himself for his own mistakes, such as destroying the trees acting as a protective stave around their home (though to be fair he had been advised to do so by Faye, before her death).
- He finally moves past this in Ragnarök, after learning that predestined fate is in reality nothing more than the predictable outcome of individual choices, meaning that he always had the ability to change but simply chose not to. This pushes him to finally admit full responsibility for all of his faults and truly resolve to become a better person.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- By opening Pandora's Box, he released the evil inside, which possessed the Olympians and turned them all into bastards... Well, moreso, since the atrocities of Greek Mythology establish that they were dicks beforehand.
- While the Greek Gods were no saints, Kratos practically brings the world to ruins with each God he slain, as their power would go way out of balance and ravage the world. Once Zeus is killed, the world is practically in Chaos.
- His killing of Baldur in the 2018 game, while done to save Freya's life, not only gets the ungrateful Freya to swear revenge on him, but also kick-starts Ragnarök over a hundred years ahead of schedule.
No Badass to His Valet: His first wife Lysandra told him straight to his face that his bloody campaigns throughout Greece were monstrous, and were all driven by Kratos's own desire for personal glory. Likewise, Kratos's son Atreus does as his father tells him, but it's clearly a matter of respect, not fear: the boy has no qualms about calling his father out if he deems it necessary. Ragnarök also shows that Faye wasn't intimidated by him in the least, finding his stoic nature endearing.
No Indoor Voice: Which makes the few times he isn't screaming (notably in Ghost of Sparta and Ascension) rather surprising. By the time of the Norse era he's much more taciturn and soft-spoken.
Nominal Hero: Kratos has repeatedly expressed his usual Lack of Empathy towards others and in the original trilogy has gone on record stating that his need for vengeance matters, forgetting the lives of innocent people quite often. Much of the "heroic" acts attributed to him (namely defeating Ares, and slaying all manner of creature terrorizing Greece) were done with hardly a hint of desire to defend others but rather out of Kratos desire for either vengeance or peace from all the trauma-fuelled nightmares he endures daily. Even in the PS4 game, where he's become a much kinder individual, his primary motivations are taking care of his son and getting Faye's ashes to the highest peak in Midgard. In optional questlines where he can help out the Dwarves or disturbed spirits, he is quick to voice out that any altruistic actions he takes on are largely for his and Atreus's benefit, and that they just so happen to align with helping out others.
- Finally averted in Ragnarök, most notably in the titular final battle where, upon seeing Atreus' distress at the Midgardians caught in the crossfire, realizes that he was wrong to pursue vengeance at the expense of others once again and quickly summons his commanders to change their strategy and focus on saving as many people as possible from Ragnarök while using a surgical strike to take out Odin.
One-Man Army: The gods throw everything they have at him, and it barely slows him down. Even in a World of Badass, Kratos is still able to tear his way through endless hordes of zombies and monsters. There's a very good reason he's the page image for the Video Games section of the trope.
Only One Name: Since ancient Greeks didn't use surnames, he only has his first name.
Papa Wolf:
- Toward Pandora in the third game, as her presence reminds him constantly of his daughter Calliope. Speaking of Calliope, in Chains of Olympus, he actually reunites with her in a genuinely touching moment…but willingly sacrifices his last chance to be with her in order to save her (and the rest of the world), from Persephone.
- In God of War (2018), he's shown taking an active interest in his son's life, skills, and abilities. When The Stranger takes interest in finding and murdering his son, Kratos goes from merely fighting him to actively attempting to reduce him to nothing more than a bloodstain in the snow with his bare hands. When Sindri asks Atreus if Brok had been drinking Kratos throws his axe at his head but thankfully Kratos wasn't aiming to kill him and it had actually hit the rock next to him.
- When Odin taunted Kratos that Atreus will soon turn to his side, Kratos icily tells him to return his son, if he doesn't wish the Norse pantheon destroyed. And later on, when Odin took Atreus as hostage for the mask, Kratos would have killed him if not for Odin's quick thinking.
Pay Evil unto Evil: To be fair, a lot of his victims really deserved it. Looking at you, Ares. And Baldur, though even that was played out in a more Alas, Poor Villain kind of way, where Kratos genuinely didn’t want to kill him, but had no choice, as the guy was too far gone in his insanity to be stopped in any other way.
- Ragnarok takes this further with Heimdall. Unlike Baldur, Heimdall had nothing redeeming or sympathetic going for him, and constantly abused Atreus, and made no secret in wanting to kill him. Even the trophy for killing Heimdall is fittingly called “comeuppance.”
The Peter Principle: Kratos is an excellent fighter and able to adapt during any battle to defeat his enemies after his Spartan training. But when Kratos is promoted to General of the Spartan Army? He charges in his usual Blood Knight tendencies, which nearly leads to his death and his entire army's decimation, only getting out of it with a deal with Ares (which he then uses to make Kratos kill his wife and daughter). And after the end of the first game and being promoted to the new God of War? Kratos makes the same mistakes Ares did, just to spite the gods for not removing his nightmares, which leads to him being kicked out from the Pantheon, necessitating the whole story of II and III. By the time of Ragnarök, Kratos after Character Development is painfully aware of this weakness, and refuses to lead the battle against Odin and the Aesir fearing he might make a bigger mistake than any of the two instances above. Nonetheless, by the end of the game he's put in command of the various allies he's gathered by lieu of having the most military experience. He manages to successfully get out of this trope, by being not just more strategic but developing a level of empathy.
Person of Mass Destruction: In a more personal level. Kratos usually doesn’t do monumental damage...unless it kills his enemies. Then comes III, and for every god that Kratos kills, the world suffers a natural calamity that appears at least will never end. This is made all the more apparent when ‘’Ghost of Sparta’’ reveals that Kratos was destined to be the Marked Warrior, prophesied to end the reign of Olympus. Sadly, this doesn’t get averted even when he leaves Greece for Midgard. In killing Baldur, Kratos kickstarts Fimbulwinter hundreds of years too early, setting the stage for Ragnarök.
Pet the Dog: Flashbacks to his life indicate that for all his brutality, Kratos was a loving family man who cared greatly for his family. In Ascension, prior to the other games' stories, he shows others respect on several occasions. This extends to Atreus in the Norse era, whom Kratos is far more patient with than anyone he's ever encountered before. Kratos even genuinely compliments his son after his first kill. In Ragnarök, he shows willingness to give others respect.
Really Gets Around: Between his first wife's death and meeting his second, Kratos slept with many women. However, he could find no comfort from it.
Real Men Wear Pink:
- He’s apparently talented with woodworking, as he carved out his daughter’s flute.
- Dialogue in Ragnarök, reveals that he’s talented in playing the lyre, and his knowledge of Oedipus implies that may have watched Greek plays in his spare time; he even angrily defends the Law of Unities Greek playwriting followed when Mimir criticizes it.
Red Baron: The Ghost Of Sparta.
Redemption Rejection:
- In Chains of Olympus, he was forced to undo his redemption by embracing his monstrous self again when Persephone reveals her scheme to undo reality. The consequence is that he will never see Calliope again, for his monstrous aura forbids him from ever entering Elysium.
- After moving to Midgard, this has become a defining character trait. He tries to act like a better person, but he's resigned to the fact that he is, and will always be, a monster defined by the enormous atrocities he leaves in his wake. The reason he raises Atreus the way he does is to ensure the boy doesn't become another him. At the end of Ragnarok, Kratos sees his future as a God of peace, finally achieving redemption.
Red Hot Masculinity: Kratos has a red tattoo across his face and torso. He is also large, muscular, aggressive, and gruff.
Revenge Is Not Justice:
- He wanted revenge against Ares for tricking him into murdering his wife and daughter. When he succeeds in killing Ares, Kratos doesn't feel any better and he resorts to killing himself but is saved by the Olympians who give him Ares' title as the God of War. In the sequel, he decides to kill Zeus and anyone who gets in his way. Hermes and Hera try to tell him that his crusade against the gods has only brought him more nightmares and thrown Greece into chaos, claims that Kratos ignores until he kills Zeus. Once Kratos killed Zeus, he realized that what he's done and he seemingly commits suicide, only for that to fail and for Kratos to spend the next 150 years regretting what he did and hating himself.
  Hermes: I thought Spartans fought with honor, and yet, you seek to kill me when I have no way to defend myself? Not fair! ...But you have your own sense of honor. Right, Kratos? And what has that honor brought you? Nothing but nightmares of your failure! Today, you may defeat me. But in the end Kratos, in the end, you'll betray only yourself.
- Inverted in God of War (PS4), during his journey to Jotunheim, he meets Mimir and takes him along for the rest of the journey with Atreus. After Atreus falls sick, Kratos and Mimir travel to Helheim and Mimir learns of Kratos's true identity as the Ghost of Sparta. While Kratos believes that his actions were wrong and he should still hide his past, Mimir believes the Olympians had it coming and that he should be honest with Atreus.
  - The climax of Ragnarok deals with this directly: the attack on Asgard was initially intended to be a payback against Odin and all the atrocities he had committed, but when Kratos realises that Odin is sending innocent Midgardians to die for him, he changes tactics; rather than slaughter everything in their way, he orders his forces to save as many as they can, while his team makes a beeline for Odin. Instead of the brutal vengeance they sought to enact when the conflict began, Kratos chooses to bring justice down upon Odin alone.

S-Y

Say My Name:
- "AREEEEEEEEEEEES!!!"
- "ZEEEEEEEEEEEUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSS!!!!!"
- "ATHENAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
- "GAAAAAIIIIAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
- In addition to bellowing the names of people when he wants their attention, Greek-era Kratos practically has a Verbal Tic of ending the first sentence of every conversation with the name of the person he's addressing, or if he doesn't know their name, Race-Name Basis. This makes his The Nicknamer tendencies in the Norse era stand out that much more — he's become so socially withdrawn that he's very uncomfortable calling anyone by name. By the time of Ragnarök however he addresses people properly.
Screw Destiny: Even when the Fates themselves dictate Kratos's death, he just storms their home and murders them to change the moment of his death. In the PS4 game, it's implied by the fact that the three-year-snow preceeding Ragnarök has happened a hundred years early, and the deaths of Thor's sons (who were supposed to survive it) that Kratos's presence may allow him to play with or possibly even break the prophecy of Ragnarök, one of the biggest examples of You Can't Fight Fate in any mythos. Indeed, Kratos eventually learns in Ragnarök that the concept of "predestined fate" is nothing more than a myth perpetuated by foolish gods unable to change their corrupt ways, that it was Kratos' own moral failings that led him to commit so many terrible deeds, and that prophesies are merely guidelines with divergent possibilities. This spurs him ever more to forge a better path for himself and his son, Atreus, and to avoid repeating the same mistakes he did in his youth, which ultimately pays off for him in the end.
Kratos: Fate is another lie told by the gods. Nothing is written that cannot be unwritten.
Self-Made Orphan: Killed his mother, though forced, after she was turned into a monster, then kills his father Zeus. Deconstructed later on, in that even when he arrives at Midgard, ''hundreds’’ of years after his rampages throughout Greece, the death of Zeus has become the biggest in a long line of regrets, and he fears that Atreus may one day follow him down that dark path.
Semi-Divine: He's revealed to have been born demigod in God of War II, and a son of Zeus, to be specific. After ascending to full godhood as the new God of War and then later being sapped of his divine powers through Zeus' betrayal, Kratos still retains his immortality and superhuman nature due to his inherent divinity.
Single-Target Sexuality: Though he Really Gets Around, it's noted in-universe that Kratos finds no real comfort or happiness in doing so, with his wife Lysandra being the only woman he ever properly loved. Averted come the first Norse entry, where he's found love again and fathered a son, and his reminiscent dialogue, despite his silence being often, makes it clear he really, sincerely loved Faye.
Slouch of Villainy: The few times he's seen sitting on a throne as the new God of War, he's slouching, as he'd rather be out conquering others. This is given a Call-Back in Valhalla, where he adopts a similar pose after taking a seat on a stone throne as the new God of Hope. This time, though, he's become a much better person and just wants to sit for a moment longer.
Sour Outside, Sad Inside: Kratos is blunt as Spartans apparently were, speaks with purpose, easily annoyed and prone to extreme bursts of Unstoppable Rage that understandably puts a lot of people off him, both in and out of universe. But his life's just one big Trauma Conga Line that never stops going bad for him, so it's at the very least understandable why he's so volcanically angry and unpleasant almost all the time.
Strong and Skilled: Due to his divinity, Kratos has extraordinary power that easily dwarves almost any enemy he fights, and he only grows more powerful in time. He's also an exceptionally skilled warrior, once the captain of the Spartan army, capable of using both weapons and unarmed combat with devastating efficiency. His moves may be brutal, but they're all highly precise, and his technique focuses more on swift decisive bloody dispatches rather than rage-driven sadistic attacks. In his older days, Kratos actually relies much more on his skill rather than his overwhelming power, having been taught from experience, being that he's holding himself back from using too much strength.
Strong as They Need to Be: He grapples bare-handed with everything from civilians to soldiers, mythical heroes, large monsters, huge monsters, gods, and Titans, and no matter who or what he's fighting, they all seem to cause him the exact same amount of physical strain. Even opening wooden doors and treasure chests seems to give him the same amount of trouble as, say, tossing the Colossus of Rhodes across the city. This is perhaps best displayed in the very first scene of the Norse era: he expends great effort into chopping down a tree with his magical axe, then hefts the entire tree on his shoulder effortlessly.
Super Mode: The rage ability present in every main game grants Kratos increased offensive power and durability can be built by killing enough enemies with large combos or taking damage. The "Rage of the Gods" in the first game covered him in lightning, the "Rage of the Titans" engulf him in flames and can be turned on and off, the "Rage of Sparta" allows him to use the Blade of Olympus. In God of War (PS4), the "Spartan Rage" has him use his bare fists on fire, amongst many other attacks. In Ragnarok he can use Rage to either heal himself or to perform a single powerful attack, with Valhalla unlocking The Blade of Olympus as an option
Super-Strength: Kratos has occasionally pushed down giant stone structures by himself, used large and heavy objects to bludgeon enemies to death, and regularly manhandles beings several orders of magnitude larger than himself. Not without a lot of effort, as the QTEs prove.
Superior Successor: To his father, Zeus. Kratos plunges the whole world into Chaos by defeating every single god in opposition against him, defeating Zeus with his bare hands in an uncomfortably bloody Extreme Mêlée Revenge. That being said, after moving up north, Kratos clearly expresses quite a lot of regrets towards his actions in his past life, and after revealing Atreus's heritage to him as well as confessing to his killing of Zeus, Kratos outright invokes this trope in that he and Atreus resolve to be better gods than the generations that spawned them.
They Killed Kenny Again: Surprisingly for a main character, Kratos tends to end up in the land of the dead in nearly every installment. And his trip during the PS4 installment was the first time he didn't actually die to end up there. See the Resurrective Immortality entry in the Norse Era folder for more information on this.
Time-Passage Beard: Between the two eras, his goatee has grown into a full beard.
Tragic Mistake: The worst of his misfortunes and tragedies that haunts him for the whole series can be traced back to making the deal with Ares.
Two Aliases, One Character: In Greece, Kratos was known as the Ghost of Sparta, the God-Slayer, the God of War, and after the events of Ghost of Sparta, Death, the Destroyer of Worlds. The most recent game adds a new alias to the mix in a mural in Jötunheim: Fárbauti, meaning "cruel striker".
Tsundere: For all of his harsh brutality, he is an unusual version of this as he is extremely harsh to his allies, but he does love his loved ones, and a death of one of his family members will throw him into depression. In the Norse duology, he at first has a harsh treatment of his son Atreus, but he does love him as a father and his entire journey in the first game allows Atreus to bond with him.
Übermensch: Deconstructed, as Ares's apprentice he was trained to be the perfect warrior and his mentor tricked him into killing his own family so he'd be free from any ethical and moral restraints. However, Kratos's status as the ubermensch has only brought him misery, trauma, and bottomless guilt because he decided that the deaths of the gods is a better alternative to letting them continue plaguing him with tragedies (even though nobody asked him to do this and would prefer that he didn't destroy Greece in his revenge quest).
Unstoppable Rage: His rage is a form of him getting his vengeance.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He instigates most doom intentionally, but sometimes he genuinely doesn't know what his actions will result in.
- Opening Pandora's Box. He just did it to kill Ares, not knowing that the evils released would corrupt the Olympians.
- In the Norse saga, he is unaware of the Ragnarok prophecy and just wants to live in peace with his family. Unfortunately, just by having Atreus, he's playing into the prophecy as Atreus is foretold to play a major role in it as Loki. Then there's his killing Baldur to save Freya, which triggers Fimbulwinter.
Unwitting Pawn: Kratos gets played for a fool a lot in the series. He only wises up at the very end of III and kills himself rather than allow Athena to become Greece's only goddess. There's also the reveal at the end of God of War (PS4), which implies he might have been this to Faye.
Use Their Own Weapon Against Them: Befitting as a Spartan Warrior and later a God of War, Kratos is not above snatching his opponents’ weapons and killing them with them. Notable examples include Hades, whom Kratos steals and uses his claws to rip out his soul, taking the Blade of Olympus to use against Zeus, usurping and dropping a Troll’s pillar onto their skulls, and disarming a Traveller’s sword and using it to cleave them in half.
Variable-Length Chain: His chains on the Blades of Chaos can stretch quite far, despite the fact that the chains are only about a foot long when they're wrapped around his forearms. It's justified because the blades are explicitly stated to be magical, and similar enchanted weapons are found throughout the God of War series.
War God: Surprisingly, for the protagonist of a series titled God of War, Kratos's status as a War God is pretty complicated. After defeating Ares, Kratos himself ascended to godhood and was awarded with the mantle of the God of War—considering how much of a Blood Knight he was even as a mortal, it's a title all too fitting for one such as he. However, his resentment of the gods leads him to abuse his power, to the point where he begins a Divine Conflict against all on Olympus when Zeus retaliates by stripping him of his powers and sending him to the Underworld. In subsequent Greek entries after II, Kratos is no longer addressed as the God of War, but is still addressed as a god because of his inherent divinity as Zeus's son. It's also implied that his killing of Thanatos ascends him to the status of a straight-up Destroyer Deity, embodying both Death and War. By the Norse Era, Kratos no longer wears the mantle of the God of War because he decimated his whole pantheon, but his Character Development by that point has shaped him into a world-weary man who's just plain tired of conflict, much like a soldier who's suffering from PTSD long after his war has ended. So while he may no longer be the God of War in terms of title, it can be argued that he's almost certainly an embodiment of the glory to be found in a war, the rage and suffering that spurs men to begin one, and ultimately the consequences one must face when it ends.
Weapon-Based Characterization: The younger, hot-headed, Unwitting Pawn Kratos of the Greek era wielded various burning blades literally chained to his arms, while the Older and Wiser, violence-averse Kratos of the Norse era instead prefers a frost-summoning axe that is just as useful for woodcutting as it is for battle.
When He Smiles: You almost never see him smile. Trapped in an unending spiral of rage, grief, self loathing and guilt, Kratos understandably does not have much to be happy about... but if ever caught off guard or allowed moments to true happiness, such as his afterlife reunion with his daughter Calliope or when trying to bond with his son Atreus, Kratos has a disarmingly warm, gentle and kind smile; even if it is always twinged with a distinct melancholy and sadness.
Wolverine Publicity: Kratos has evolved into something of a mascot for the PlayStation brand, having made appearances in several first-party games for the console brand, while also making crossover appearances in games such as Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny and Mortal Kombat 9.
World's Best Warrior: If he's somehow not the strongest being in whatever pantheon he steps into, then he'll at least prove he's the pinnacle of fighting ability. Any weapon or power he gets his hands on he instantly masters and for all his boasting in his younger days, won't make the mistake of underestimating his enemies, instead seeking out the appropriate means to defeat them first. Even if his opponent is somehow stronger than he is, often on account of their sheer size, he's skilled enough to use his own advantages of his careful manoeuvring, smaller size, battle-instinct and eye for weak points to see himself through. He is even able to spot the patterns in Heimdall's dodges, despite the fact Heimdall can see his every though on how to attack, and overwhelms the Foresight God through strategic changes in punching speed and placement.
World's Strongest Man:
- Kratos starts out as already the strongest Spartan and a remarkable powerhourse before he then grows increasingly stronger and more skilled to where he can kill some of the strongest monsters of the Greek pantheon, culminating in him defeating the God of War, Ares himself, and acquiring the ultimate power of Hope. He even defeats Thanatos, the Primordial of Death, when full of rage! Even Zeus himself fears him to where he would only face and kill him when he had temporarily given up his divine powers, and he decisively proves his status as the strongest of Greece by casually dispatching the likes of the Titan Chronos and most Olympians in his way, even killing the Big Three themselves in a fierce fight, even dispatching Poseidon by beating him to death and straight-up overpowering Zeus with the Blade of Olympus while Kratos himself was unarmed and using it to kill him.
- Even after moving to the Norse era and spending years not engaging in any significant fights, he has actually gotten even stronger and it's made evident on both the 2018 game and Ragnarok he's still the top contender for the title of the strongest entity there, which is with him holding himself back the entire time and never truly using his full strength. Leaving aside his casual dispatches of countless monsters of the Norse Realm, including quite dangerous ones such as Dragons, Trolls, and Ancients, Kratos starts his first journey on Norse by defeating Baldur with his infamous invulnerability, killing him three times, despite Baldur having the advantage of swiftly resurrecting with all the damage Kratos dealt healed and not feeling any of the pain and strain Kratos would feel, and their other confrontations has Kratos still proving himself stronger and turning the tides all the way even with Atreus' presence giving him more of a burden, eventually snapping his neck once he was no longer invulnerable. The powerful sons of Thor ganging up on him? He easily handles both of them while being inconvenienced due to their taunts making Atreus more of The Load than ever before swiftly cutting loose and killing Magni in moments and then sending Modi crying back to Thor after no-selling his surprise lightning attack upon seeing Atreus in danger with a single punch.
  - While his battles against both Thor and Odin, both contenders for the strongest Norse god, were some of the toughest fights he's ever endured, it's clear that he was not fighting at his best. In his first fight with Thor, he'd only had a few small hours of sleep and only had the Leviathan Axe; Thor flat-out calls out Kratos for still holding back and even then he still keeps up with the God of Strength before eventually ending the fight in a stalemate. The next time he and Thor fought, Kratos ended up the victor even though he was the only one not fighting to kill, and both had engaged in different fights prior. And when the time came to fight Odin, whilst he needed help from Atreus and Freya to win, all three had just come from other battles whilst Odin was fresh; even then, Kratos was doing most of the heavy lifting against the All-Father, with his allies in comparison serving as assistance, tossing Odin about just as much as Odin could with him. Odin himself specifically avoids fighting him the best he could before all this, making it clear even the All-Father fears the Ghost of Sparta on a level, and he's accomplished two feats that is implied to be out of Odin's paygrade: Odin straight up finds Kratos surviving entering the Light of Alfheim highly astonishing as anyone else would have been disintegrated or left insane, and while Odin is indicated to require a spell to be able to completely withstand the cold of Helheim, Kratos can stay in Helheim fairly easily without any need of a spell. The only one being who could possibly be stronger than he is would be Surtr, at least when he's Ragnarok, although Kratos didn't outright fight either incarnation (Surtr only blasted him back once instead of engaging in an outright fight and Kratos' mission in the final battle was to get to Odin himself, not completely stop Ragnarok from destroying Asgard), leaving the question of who is stronger as being forever undeterminable.^note .
  - In Valhalla, Kratos actually replicates the Blade of Olympus through the sheer power of his memories manifesting in Valhalla, meaning he can replicate a weapon that single-handedly ended a war between gods and their predecessors through his own power. To compare, Zeus needed a a notable amount of time to create the Blade, but Kratos could do so instantly and as naturally as he manifests his rage. The one other being left who might challenge him for the title is Týr, a fellow God of War; Kratos and Týr do battle four times and each time it ends not in a decisive victory but by Týr calling it off, a decision Kratos respects - after Týr neatly catces Kratos' final punches. Even then, Týr remarks Kratos is the better fighter between them.
Would Hit a Girl: Would? Kratos not only would hit, as he would kill them in a way just as gruesome as the men, at least if need be, though it's usually monstrous females in his path. Kratos is a lot of things, but his violence is equal for all genders.
Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Kratos killed his own daughter, but didn't do so intentionally, and later claimed that "a simple child will not trouble me" when Athena tells him that Pandora must be sacrificed in order to kill Zeus. However, when the time actually came to let Pandora die, Kratos couldn't bring himself to do so, and only released her into the flame in a moment of blind rage to attack Zeus. Even after heading up to Midgard, Kratos maintains this trait; he is stern and not above shouting at his son Atreus to reprimand him for what he's done wrong, but he never lays a hand against him. The one time he does get physical with Atreus, it is under duress (the Stranger is there to kill them both and Atreus refuses to step back from the fight) and Kratos is clearly shocked with what he did and is momentarily unable to get out a sentence to Atreus. When he wrestles and beats down a crazed bear in Ragnarök, once he realises that he was fighting a transformed Atreus, he is visibly distressed by the fact that he might have hurt his son, let alone mortally.
Villain Killer: Although Kratos himself was hardly a noble figure in the Greek era, the gods he was up against were hardly any better, and in the Norse era, he is definitely nobler than the Aesir gods he finds himself up against. In either case, Kratos musters an impressive bodycount, managing to kill the Furies, Persephone, Ares, Thanatos, the Sisters of Fate, Poseidon, Hades, Hermes, Hercules, Hera, Zeus, Magni, Baldur, and Heimdall, while defeating Thor in single combat and playing a vital role in the defeat of Odin.
You Are Worth Hell: He will brave through afterlives to save his children, even if he had to spill more blood to do it.
You Can't Fight Fate: Despite killing the Sisters of Fate themselves, Kratos actually fulfills a prophecy spoken of long ago, wherein a Marked Warrior would one day bring about the end of Olympus itself. And long after he's left Greece, Kratos very much wants Atreus to grow into a better man than him, but due to Atreus's true identity as Loki and his apparent role in Ragnarök, it is heavily implied that despite all of his efforts, Kratos's son will indeed make the same mistakes as his father once did. In the end, however, this trope is proven wrong in Ragnarök as Kratos learns through conversation with the Norns that predestined fate does not exist, and the only reason the prediction came true was because Kratos was predictable; he was only bound to destroy Olympus so long as he refused to stop being a vengeful and deicidal berserker. Through Character Development and determination to avoid repeating the same mistakes he did in the Greek era, Kratos ultimately succeeds in thwarting the grim prophecy he saw in the 2018 game, instead fulfilling a different and much more uplifting path that Faye had envisioned for him.
Your Size May Vary: Kratos is never a small man, but his exact size varies between stories; according to interviews, his ingame model is well over seven feet tall in the Greek games and just under it in the Norse games, and even in the comics there are discrepancies. Officially, his actual height is seven feet exactly.

Characters / God of War Series – Kratos

Kratos

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Kratos in Týr's Temple

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Characters / God of War Series – Kratos

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Kratos

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Kratos in Týr's Temple

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