WMG / God of War (PS4)

The Valkyrie Geirdriful and Kratos will train soldiers of Valhalla in preparation for Ragnarök

It's mentioned that Geirdriful is training the soldiers for Ragnarök, and who else is there to train the souls of Valhalla other than Kratos? As the Norse Gods are pretty much assholes in this new installment, it's possible the dead Valkyries training for Ragnarök will instead fighting against the Norse Pantheon instead of with them.

Atreus will be the first LGBT character in canon

I mean true, Loki did have two wives and kids, but he also changed sexes and casually had sex with men and with a horse. The more Bestiality Is Depraved, the better, since it would outrage both homophobes and people who want representation, which is exactly what Loki does for a living.

• Well, he IS Greek on his father's side. And you know what they're like...
  • "Feckin' Greeks! They invented gayness!!"
  • "Ass fucking too."
• You know outside of shock value it would actually be nice to explore Loki from the modern perspective of gender-fluidity.
• He's still a kid, guys.

Kratos's death at the hands of the Norse Gods will give Atreus the motivation to begin Ragnarok to avenge his death

Because you know, he's apparently Loki. Also, the carvings in Jotunheim depicted Kratos dying in Atreus's arms.

• Actually, if you look closely, you can see that the figure that Atreus is holding doesn't have Kratos's tattoo. So that may be someone else entirely.
  • The guy does have red tattoo above the eye. Besides, why would Atreus be upset if anybody other than Kratos died?
  • More substantively, the runes around the dead man spell 'Fothur', which is the Old Norse for 'Father'. So we can be pretty confident that it's Kratos.
• Assuming he dies at all. It wouldn't be the first time Kratos has defied fate . . .
• Jossed. Kratos survives; that's Odin (the All-Father) Atreus is holding. Though there is the implication that if Kratos hadn't recognized his flaws and changed for the better, it would have been him.

Related to above Atreus will somehow find the Blade of Olympus (imbued with the last of Kratos life force) to counter Thor's Mjolnir

A fitting confrontation since both weapons were designed to kill an entire race of elemental giants.

• Jossed. Mjolnir's counterpart is the Leviathan Axe.

Kratos's son's mother is a Norse Goddess

She's being teased too much to be minor.

• Jossed. She is a Giantess, more specifically Laufey.

The Norse Gods won't care about the Greek Gods death

I doubt Odin will hold it against Kratos, heck they may even admire him for it.

• Loki might claim to be an exception, for obvious reasons.
  • Hard for Loki to claim that when he's ATREUS.
• The Norse Gods may not be sad their Greek counterparts are gone but conversation between Mimir and Kratos indicates that the Norse are very much aware, and possibly very afraid, of the Ghost of Sparta.

The Boy isn't Kratos Biological Son

It's possible Kratos met and loved his Mother while she was carrying him. But they treat each other as Father and Son regardless.

• Jossed, and is actually implied that the demi-god nature of Kratos and the nature of his Giantness mother conflicting against each other is what's causing his illness

The Boy's mother is Skadi

Kratos says multiple times that the Boy's mother taught him how to hunt. Skadi is the Goddess of bowhunting and both the Boy and Kratos use a bow to hunt. Not only that, both the bow and ax had ice powers and Skadi is also a winter Goddess.

• Jossed. She is revealed to be Laufey.

Kratos is preparing his son for revenge

He is the expert, after all. We don't see the boy's mother, Kratos emerges from the shadows (perhaps he discovered her body? Doubtful, what was he doing there?) and inquires about the boy's hunting skill (bringing up his mother) and the knife. Kratos' attitude seemed restrained the entire demo (either his anger faded or he's hiding it in this particular scene). Finally, upon the demo's end where we get our reveal of the land, Kratos mentions "A new beginning..." ominously; most likely because he is training his son to bring justice to his mother's killer, something Kratos feels is not his task this journey.

• Jossed: Recent trailers showed Kratos adamant about how killing the gods have consequences. Not just that but the developers said they're aiming to tell a Bruce Banner story rather than a Hulk story.
• Also, we never do learn what killed Faye.

Kratos is Odin

The name "Odin" is derived from the Old High Germanic words for "rage / frenzy" and "master / lord"; Which is to say it basically means "Master of Rage". The god is further associated with the more unsavory aspects of war (in opposition to Tyr, who is more the god of valor) and is also often known as the "Allfather". You play as a literal God of War who's explicit goal according to the game's director is to master his character defining rage and be a better father in a Norse Mythology setting. Coincidence? I think not!

• Does that mean that the boy is Týr?
  • Continuing with names: Atreus means "fearless" in Greek. Tyr is the god of bravery and valor. So I wouldn't put it past them.
• Kratos also carries around Mimir's head for at least part of the game, something Odin is known for in Norse Mythology.
• Jossed. The Stranger knocking at Kratos' door early in the game states that he was sent by Odin. Kratos is instead the mythological figure Fárbauti, father of Loki.
• Also, Kratos and Odin interact multiple times in Ragnarok.

Kratos is responsible for the death or loss of The Boy's mother

Whatever the woman was to Kratos' (Wife, brief lover, etc.) Kratos either did something that caused her death or actually killed her himself, and is raising the Boy out of some weird sense of guilt.

• Jossed: we don't know how she died, but neither Kratos nor Atreus act as if he had anything to do with her death.

The Boy will die

The Boy will live through most of the game, just long enough for us to grow attached to him and see Kratos try to be a good father. Then someone will screw that up and kill him, and we get to see Kratos absolutely lose it in a glorious but tragic way.

• Jossed. Atreus comes very close to dying, but survives to the end of the game.

The Norse Gods came into being or emerged because Kratos killed the Greek ones

It's shown that the death of the Greek Gods had cataclysmic consequences and they filled a role in the order of things. If the Greek Gods are gone, new Gods had to take their place so the world could be stable again.

• Jossed (most likely). At one point, there’s mention of a ‘great desert with many gods.’ This probably refers to Egypt. Since this would mean that multiple polytheistic religions co-exist in the world, its more likely the franchise is just now delving into other regions.

Thor's Mjölnir will be an available weapon

He will either face Thor in combat, which would lead with him taking his legendary hammer or he will be given his hammer. Either way, he will use Mjolnir much like his frost axe in the demo.

• Jossed. Thor will appear with his famed Mjolnir at Kratos' doorstep.
  • Ultimately, it seems Thrud will be the one who gets Mjolnir.

The Boy will continue the cycle of son killing father

Like Zeus bringing down his father, and then Kratos killing Zeus, the boy will eventually have to bring down his own father too.

• Jossed. For this game anyways...
  • Double jossed. Doesn't happen in Ragnarok either.

Kratos will actually get along great with the Norse gods

Ancient Norse culture valued martial skill and Kratos doesn't seem to be as hostile and rage-fueled as he was in previous games. Plus, the Norse gods were generally more cordial than the Greek gods, though they weren't completely flawless. Maybe he'll defy expectations and make friends with the Norse deities during the course of the game...until Ragnarok ruins everything and drives him into violent fury again.

• Jossed. The Norse Gods as a whole are explicitly said to be hostile to outsiders and Kratos is likewise disdainful of them when seeing altars made in their honor, stating that "men should not worship monsters".
• Well, semi-jossed. He doesn't get along with most Norse gods, but he befriends Freya and ultimately tries to redeem Thor instead of fighting him, which probably would have led to a friendship if Odin hadn't been an asshole.

If the above theory is right, one of his allies could be Thor

Or maybe a Friendly Rival.

• Jossed as above.

Candidates for the game's Big Bad

• Odin (Jossed for this game, confirmed for Ragnarok)
• Thor
• Loki
• His children: Jörmungandr, Fenrir, Hel
• Níðhöggr
• Surtr
• Ymir
• Kratos himself
  • Jossed for the World Serpent. He does appear, but instead as an ally to Kratos and Atreus.
  • Baldur is the Big Bad, while Odin serves as the Greater-Scope Villain.
  • Jossed for Loki because he’s revealed to be Atreus.
  • Nidhoggr appears as a minor villain in Ragnarok, Surtr is an ally, Fenrir is Atreus's pet, and Ymir is a bit busy being dead.

Kratos's son's name is Deimos

He names him after his deceased brother.

• Jossed. His name is Atreus. and Loki. He did name the kid after a Spartan he admired, though in this case it was a fellow warrior who was a Nice Guy and performed a Heroic Sacrifice.

Kratos will die at the beginning of the game, and you'll play as the boy after a Time Skip

Kratos supposedly being immortal and being the player character at the start of the game will be a Red Herring - The Norse Gods will slaughter Kratos or otherwise put him out of the picture, and the boy will grow up and be the central focus of the story. The game will rebuild the franchise around the boy as he becomes the Norse God of War.

• Possible evidence for this: The fact that for some reason, Kratos' Archery and Tracking skills increase in points despite the fact that it's his son doing the work.
  • Possiblely Jossed: They would not have introduced him in the first place nor introduced the Spartan fury mechanic if his son was the one we played as. Furthermore, considering all the present debate over the game, making the son the one you play as would be a bad move.
    • Jossed.

The story will revolve around Norse Gods trying to get involved with him while he is just trying to live with his son

Considering the giant mentions Valhalla, I'm guessing the Norse Gods and Titan equivalents are very much interested in this enigma that came before them.

• Partially Jossed: While they are antagonized by Norse Gods, the Aesir seem more interested in finding a way to Jotunheim than anything regarding the Greek pantheon. Also the game revolves around fulfilling Kratos’ wife’s final wishes than interacting with the gods.
• Confirmed in that Kratos is trying to go on a journey with Atreus while Baldur- and later Magni and Modi- provokes him and tries to pick fights.

Kratos is also training his son to kill Kratos if his rage ever gets out of hand

From a comment on a post from God of War III, Kratos has been training his son to not only survive in this new world, but also act as a backup to stop or Kill Kratos at the end of his journey or of he becomes too unstoppable and angry again.

The Boy is a reincarnation of Loki

Partially confirmed. He is revealed to be Loki, no reincarnation involved. He goes by 'Atreus', but Loki was the name his mom wanted to give him.

The two sides of Ragnarok are trying to sic Kratos on the other

Basically Odin and Loki are well aware of what kind of a monster Kratos is to fight, and neither side wants to really want to risk his wrath but his help could prove invaluable in Ragnarok, and they know asking Kratos directly will just have him refuse. So each side is trying to frame the other to direct Kratos' anger at their opponent.

• Jossed. Odin is wary about fighting Kratos, but he just wants him to stay out of things, and Loki is actually Atreus.

Freya will be out for Kratos's blood

Remember that one barbarian that Kratos fought in a flashback during the first God of War game? Turns out he was Kratos's Germanic counterpart and offered servitude to Freya (the Norse goddess of war) in order to defeat the Spartans. Simply put, she's not happy about him killing her emissary.

• Semi-Confirmed: While she will be after Kratos's blood, it's not because of the Barbarian King but because he kills her son, Baldur, in the climax.

Atreus is named after the king of Mycenae

Well, duh!

• Jossed. Kratos reveals he was named after a Spartan warrior known for his kindness that died bravely in battle.

And his possible rival could be named after his brother Thyestes. Bonus points if the game introduces a female character named Aerope.

This version of Loki couldn't be related to Odin

If Loki can't be Odin's brother, he can either be Thor's (like the Marvel version) or Freya's.

• Confirmed in the first guess, the other two are jossed. He's not related to any Norse gods; he's the son of Kratos and Laufey.

The Stranger is Balder

The mysterious man that attacks Kratos has divine strength and speed, can heal from practically any wound and he also vaguely mentions being "not like his brother". Piercing together all these facts and its highly possible that he is Balder, the Norse God of light, joy and beauty who was said to be invulnerable to nearly everything in existence, and also happened to be Thor's biological brother.

• Confirmed.

One of the boss fights will be against Kratos' old self

It may be an illusion or a psychological battle, but it will represent Kratos finally mastering his rage. For kicks, we'll see weapons from the previous games.

• Jossed.

The sequel will be called Gods of War

Using the Silent Hills trick of an S standing in for a 5.

• Jossed; it's God of War Ragnarök.

This whole thing is a setup by the REAL Loki

He's trying to Rules Lawyer his way out of perishing at Ragnarok by having someone ELSE named Loki to complete the prophecy.

The in-universe reason why Kratos's voice is so much deeper in this game...

He thrashed his vocal chords with all his angry screaming in the original trilogy.

The sequel will be about trying to prevent destiny

With the reveal that Atreus is Loki the sequel will focus on the idea of trying to prevent his destiny, just like how God of War 2 saw Kratos attempt to do the same.

• It's complicated. Odin wants to prevent destiny, but as it turns out the only way to actually do that is to change oneself for the better and stop making choices that will ultimately lead you to ruin. Kratos and Atreus get it (and though they do cause Ragnarok, both survive it), Odin doesn't.

Thor's voice actor MIGHT be Chris Hemsworth

If III managed to get Kevin Sorbo (from Hercules: The Legendary Journeys) as Hercules then they might get Chris as his voice actor in the next game.

I also hope Tom Hiddleston will play Loki as an older Atreus. And for some reason I can imagine Odin voiced by Keith Szarabajka.

• Jossed. Thor's voice actor is Ryan Hurst, Odin's voice actor is Richard Schiff, and Loki's voice actor is still Sunny Suljic.

Jörmungandr is time displaced

In the original Norse myth Jörmungandr is son of Loki and brother to Fenrir but as we learn in the game Atreus is Loki, but according to Freya Jörmungandr just appeared one day. Perhaps when Atreus is an adult he does father Jörmungandr but he ends up getting sent back in time.

• Explicitly confirmed by Mimir LONG before the reveal that Atreus is Loki. The Thor/Jörmungandr fight at Ragnarok will be so intense that the world tree will send the Serpent back in time.

The New Cycle will be Atreus's Protagonist Journey to Villain

Despite his father telling him about his Godhood and trying to sway him towards being "better" than he was before, Atreus still shows shades of being an Übermensch. With his slaying of the second of Thor's sons and his reasoning behind it being that he and his father, as Gods, are held accountable to no one's judgement but their own, it is the first bit of foreshadowing that Atreus's current views of morality are not as harmless as good and bad. As a boy, as Loki, the lessons he "learned" from the first game won't be applied in the way the audience would expect it to be. And even after the scattering of his mother's ashes in Jotunheim, Kratos has to, again, remind him that he is mortal. That Kratos has to remind Atreus of his humanity, of all people, is too heavy a bit of Foreshadowing to not be relevant. Finding out about his mother's legacy as a giant as well as his father's background as the slayer of a whole pantheon is not his cue to be a good man ... but the first sprinkles of his Start of Darkness.

• In addition to this, even though Kratos did reveal the truth about his origins to Atreus, he still hid some important details from him, such as how he once had a family before Faye and Atreus who was killed by his own hands. The sequel will be about the trust issues between Kratos and Atreus as the latter learns more about the former's darker past, which eventually leads Atreus/Loki down the path of darkness.
• This could lead well into Atreus/Loki being the main villain of the third game, not Odin, where Kratos has to return from the dead once again and slay his own son before he destroys the entire world. It would certainly be a twist fitting of a Greek Tragedy.
• Given how the second game ends, that would require some impressive character derailment of Atreus.

Kratos is Odin's father

In the original mythology Odin and Loki are brothers. Given how Loki is Atreus here and Kratos did not tell everything to Atreus. This is a possibility.

• It should be pointed out that Loki and Odin are merely brothers via a blood oath in the myths.
• Jossed. Odin is not related to Kratos and Atreus whatsoever, but instead is the Greater-Scope Villain.

The Norse gods are also affected by the evils Kratos unleashed when he opened the Pandora'x Box

That would explain why so many gods in the Norse pantheon receive an Adaptational Villainy, namely Odin, Thor and his sons, Baldur, and the Valkyries, to name a few. We did see the evil, Fear leaving Zeus when Kratos has beaten him to an inch of his life back in III, after all. What if those evils come to infect the Norse gods instead? Or maybe even gods from other myths like Egyptian, Shinto, and Central American?

Kratos will come back from Helheim to witness Ragnarok

Face it: Kratos has come back from the dead multiple times. What's to stop him from either watching the world end again at his own son's hands or try to prevent it from getting too out of hand?

• Metaphorically confirmed. Kratos does visit Helheim (multiple times) and return to take part in Ragnarok, but he never goes there by dying.

Angrboda will appear in the sequel.

Since Atreus is Loki, there is a good chance she might appear to bear his children.

• Confirmed. No kids yet, though.

Atreus will be fully playable in the sequel.

His playstyle will probably be drastically different from his father, perhaps a heavier reliance on magic for evading and eliminating enemies.

• Confirmed.

The Blades of Chaos...

...will enventually become a mythical superweapon.Evidence: during the story you gain the Blades of Chaos and if you will note when you find the missing tyr mural in the odins hidden room in Tyr's temple it confirms that there is DEFINITELY not only a greek and norse patheon, but also Egyptian and Japanese pantheons. when you get the Blades, you can upgrade it just like the Axe, however instead of upgrading like they did in the other games, all glowier and stuff, there is a norse etching instead and the hilts are given a more norse look too, I surmise that the dwarves are actually infusing them with some norse magic. therefore in the later games Kratos will visit these other realms, each infusing their own style of magic into it, basically turning it into a Godkiller myth class weapon.

• You can't carry things to other pantheons if you're a truly dead man.
  • if not Kratos then maybe Atreus picks them up in rage of Kratos' possible death.

Mjolnir will replace the Leviathan Axe in the sequel

During the inevitable boss battle against Thor, the Leviathan Axe will be broken beyond repair. Kratos will persevere by wresting control of Mjolnir from Thor and bashing his head in with it. In the previous series Kratos did have a habit of turning his opponents' own weapons against them. Mjolnir will also function quite well as a replacement for the Leviathan Axe since both are weapons enchanted with the Summon to Hand ability.

Alternatively, the Leviathan Axe will be destroyed and the Blades of Chaos will the main weapon again, now retaining some of the Axe's abilities.

• Jossed. The axe resists against Mjolnir and stays with Kratos through all of the game, while Mjolnir stays with Thor.

Alternatively to both theories in the WMG directly above...

Kratos will get to keep the Leviathan Axe while still obtaining Mjolnir, which will serve as the Lightning to the Blades of Chaos' Fire and the Leviathan Axe's Ice, and the Mage to the Blades' Thief and the Axe's Fighter.

The Black Breath was put there by Faye/Tyr in order to prepare Kratos for travelling between realms

The only way to dispel the mist is via the light of Alfheim. But the Bifrost and Tyr's temple is needed to reach Alfheim. Either Fay or Tyr put the Black Breath there to ensure that Kratos learned the secret of realm travel and would stop at nothing to reach Jotunheim once he knew it were possible.

Kratos's canoe will eventually become the Naglfr

It will increase in size and grow nails as the story goes on.

• Sadly jossed.

Jormungandr's existence is directly connected to Kratos

Upon closer inspection the World Serpent isn't just white, but has red scales as well, like how Kratos is grey with red tattoos, and they both have beards. Also, it just appeared, apparently displaced in its own timeline, like how Kratos crossed his own timeline and how he just appeared in the land of Norse myths.

• Confirmed. Atreus created him by putting a giant's soul into a snake.

If Kratos goes to the Shinto side of the realms...

It will be based more on Chinese mythology and he'll end up in the crosshairs of the recently deified god of war of that realm, Guan Yu. Not only will it be an epic battle of gods, but also of manly beards.

Kratos's future death directly leads to him being able to fight Odin

Where do you go when you die in combat in Norse mythology? Valhalla, Odin's hall. The Valkyries will bring him there, helping him because he freed them.

• Of course, since they consider Freya to be their queen and she's utterly pissed after Kratos kills Baldur, they'll be more intent on dragging his soul kicking and screaming to Helheim.
• Jossed. Kratos fights Odin as part of Ragnarok without dying.

Mimir is Puck from A Midsummer Night's Dream

He calls himself a Goodfellow at one point, and one of Puck's names is Robin Goodfellow. Mimir has served kings in the past before Odin, and Puck was a servant of Oberon. And A Midsummer Night's Dream was even set in ancient Athens. This would also explain how Mimir is aware of Kratos' reputation as the Ghost of Sparta.

• Confirmed. In Ragnarök, the Norns call him "Puck".

Angrboda will be involved in the sequel

She will also be a Mad Scientist who is the reason why her sons with a half-giant, quarter-Greek god are a giant snake and wolf. She will also be absolutely adorable when we meet her, being kind, loving, and genuinely devoted to Atreus...so when he gets his Start of Darkness, she follows him to the end to avenge her father-in-law and end the tyranny of the gods.

• Confirmed that she appears, jossed that she turns evil. She is in fact a normal kid, and remains that way for the entire game.

The one who blew the horn while Atreus was sick was Atreus from the future

Mimir explains that time travel apparently exists in Midgard as well with the World Serpent being said to have come from the future (which is also why he apparently recognizes Atreus). Going out from this, it's possible that Atreus himself returned from a future time to blow the horn and speak with Jormungandr for a particular reason.

• To speculate further, this will occur either after Kratos has died or during a sequence that sees Kratos in critical condition. After he speaks with Jormungandr, Atreus will follow Kratos and witness parts of Kratos' journey to cure Young Atreus, possibly disguised as one of the deer that follow Kratos down the river. It will be a chance for Atreus (and the player) to remember Kratos subtle love for his son during one of the emotional low points of this prospective new game. Atreus' volatile emotional state during this sequence will be the cause of the inexplicable storm that rolls in while Kratos rows to Freya's forest, just as Young Atreus caused a storm with his rant against Sindri.

Thor will eventually become an Affably Evil Frenemy for Kratos

This is building on the idea that the third game will be Kratos returning from the dead to stop his son from destroying the world. Thor will join forces with Kratos (perhaps to avenge the death of his father (provided Atreus kills Odin in the second game) or his son at Atreus' hands, or perhaps simply for a good fight) and will occasionally work with him. He may even consider helping Kratos kill his own son suitable revenge for his own sons' deaths at the hands of Kratos and Atreus.

• Semi-confirmed. Thor never becomes closer to Kratos nor helps him, but he choses to spare him after Kratos convinces him that he can be a better person for his daughter's sake and he realizes that his wife was right about Odin not caring for his family. Unfortunately, Odin kills him before anything more can happen.

Magni and Modi may come back for Ragnarok

Both Magni and Modi are killed by Kratos and Atreus, that part is canon. When the pair cure the valkyries of their corruption, they say that are going to get back to their duties. Since Magni died in battle then he's supposed to go to Valhalla but since the Valkyries were unable to fulfill their duties then his soul either wanders midgard or was sent to Helheim. If the Valkyries are true to their word then Magni could be sent to Valhalla from Midgard or Helheim, where he may return to midgard to fight for Odin, come Ragnarok.

Modi on the other hand didn't die in battle, he was murdered by Atreus. Regardless of his defiance, Modi may wander Midgard as well or was sent to Helheim for dying dishonorably. For all we know Modi may have actually survived and had just been incapacitated after the fall or Modi might have a loophole fate. Since Modi is destined to survive Ragnarok then the Valkyries may bring him to Valhalla on a technicality of destiny. Come Ragnarok, Magni and Modi may take part in it and survive it by the technicality of being Dead to Begin With.

• Jossed, they don't appear.

The third game will be set as Late to the Tragedy

Assuming that there are plans for a trilogy, the second game will start out as a Time Skip to when Atreus/Loki is a young adult, and the game will end with Kratos' death in his son's arms followed by a cutscene playing showing Ragnarok about to start. The third game, however, will start out with Kratos waking up in, and subsequently escaping from, Helheim (yet again). But once he reaches Midgard again, he'll find the land in ruin, and the rest of the game will center around finding Atreus (and maybe Mimir, assuming he hasn't been killed off by this point), possibly retrieving the Leviathan Axe (which is said to hold the power to restore balance to the Nine Realms), and bring about the end of Ragnarok, all while killing off the Norse deities along the way.

• Jossed.

Faye engineered the events of the game hoping to avert Ragnarok, or at least alter the outcome in a way that spares Kratos and their son

Perhaps she had somehow become aware of Kratos' potential to Screw Destiny after he told her of his victory against the Sisters of Fate. She set all of the events of the game in motion to make Kratos aware of Ragnarok and Atreus' role in it, counting on him to defy fate itself for the sake of their son.

• Confirmed. Faye actually destroyed the Jotun prophecies involving Kratos and Atreus's role so that they could become better people and thus survive.

Hel and Fenrir will be allies of Atreus in the future

Much like how Jörmungandr was an ally to Atreus and Kratos, the other two, known in mythology as Loki's children, will become their allies against the Norse gods.

• Semi-confirmed. Fenrir is Atreus' pet wolf and helps him during Ragnarok in Garm's body, but Hel doesn't appear.

Odin will attempt to recruit Kratos

Mimir says of Odin that Odin tries to control what he can, and destroy what he can't. Seeing that Kratos is capable of bucking Fate itself—he kills Magni before Ragnarok, when Magni was supposed to survive it—and wanting to avert Ragnarok entirely, Odin might just try to make nice with Kratos and bring him under his control as the person who can Screw Destiny. When that fails, he might try to kill him. This scenario would satisfy the runes on the wall in Jotunheim—"Betrayal, Death, Father, Disaster"—because Atreus would understandably flip his shit and go Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds on him.

• He does attempt to get Kratos to agree not to fight him, but he never actually attempts to recruit him.It's Atreus he wants.

Atreus will gain new abilities in the next game

To avoid having to relearn the same skills once again, it's highly likely that Atreus will gain new abilities in the next game, which could come in three different ways. First, the light and lightning enchantments his bow gained from Freya and Sindri could have faded away between the two games, and new bow enchantments will be discovered as the game progresses like in the first one. Second, Atreus' bow could break all together and he'll start gaining magical abilities that Myth!Loki has, such as shape-shifting, and utilizing those in fights. Lastly, it could be a combination of the two, where the old bow enchantments faded away and new ones must be found, while also introducing Loki's new magical abilities along the way.

• Confirmed. Atreus gains control of shapeshifting abilities and can turn into a wolf as an analogue to his father's Spartan Rage, and gains new magical arrows as courtesy of the dwarves.

Atreus will travel back in time in one of the future games.

At some point a now adult Atreus will be sent back in time and take up the same role he had in the original myths.

Jörmungandr will "technically" kill Thor

It is mentioned that Jörmungandr and Thor will do a mutual kill. Thor manages to kill the World-Serpent, but is poisoned by Jörmungandr's venom and will walk nine paces before he dies.

How does Kratos play into this? Perhaps Thor will prove to be TOO strong, even for Kratos, but during the final battle, Jörmungandr will poison Thor. Thor is basically a dead man, he is weak, but he will still have enough strength to battle Kratos.

Kratos either "helps" Thor pass on to the next life, or Kratos just manages to survive the fight with the weakened Thor, and just when it looks like Thor will continue the fight, he walks nine paces before he drops dead. Either way, Jörmungandr is still the one who kills Thor by technicality.

• Jossed. Odin kills Thor.

Atreus will be forced to serve Thor like Kratos was with Ares

Fitting in well with the father like son theme but also as the games version of Thor's adventures with Loki but with a darker twist.

• Semi-confirmed. Atreus goes to journeys with Thor in Muspelheim and Niflheim to retrieve parts of Odin's mask, but he does so deliberately due to his plan, while Thor only does so because Odin ordered him to.

Athena

is the one responsible for driving Odin insane.

Her ultimate fate after the end of Go W 3 has yet to be elaborated on and it’s not clear whether or not she appeared as a figment of Kratos’ imagination or she was actually there. If the latter is true, it wouldn’t be too surprising if she met Tyr at some point long before his death, found out how he was traveling to and from the different realms, and decided to use one of them when her initial plans to use/acquire Hope from Kratos failed. And in doing so, try again at her goal of being the sole ruler of all realms.

• And in addition to that, Odin's spear Gungnir is a reforged Blade Of Olympus gifted to him by her.
  • The bullet point's jossed. In Valhalla, Kratos gets the Blade of Olympus back.

Vidar or Vali will appear as an evil counterpart of Atreus in a future game

• Jossed.

The next Go W is basically a result of Sony Santa Monica having binged through the Fate Series

With it looking likely that the sequel involves going to other mythological realms, this would be like seeing how much of a Berserker Kratos is (along with Atreus as an Archer) tearing through a hitlist of Servants that have appeared in the series. Going through the Celtic realm means he'd have to face off against Cu Chulain, and seeing the full fury of the Warp Spasm and (nearly) dying after getting impaled by the Gae Bolg.

Kratos will acquire Thor's most important possessions

In the Prose Edda, Thor has not only his hammer, but a belt which doubles his strength, and iron gloves to properly wield his hammer. At some point in the next game, Kratos will take all of these for himself. The hammer will be a new weapon, whereas the belt and gloves will enhance his strength/vitality and attacks, respectively.

• Jossed.

Atreus will go back in time to Set Right What Once Went Wrong

The story follows Norse Mythology closely, albeit with reinterpretations, but has one major change: Loki isn't present in any of the stories, where he should have been around since at least the founding of Asgard. At some point, Atreus will go back to that point. He'll make friends with the Aesir in the hopes of turning them away from the cruel path he knows. But things will gradually go wrong and he'll be forced to engineer the death of Baldur, setting Ragnarok in motion again.

Sequel Theories!

• Kratos will not die as depicted in prophecy, or more accurately the prophecy didn't show his death but his nearest brush with death. For a few minutes it will look like he is gone and the rush of intense anger and anguish will set off Atreus who flies into a rage creating the World Serpent as well as beating the ever loving shit out of whoever nearly killed Kratos. Kratos will come around just barely soon enough to stop Atreus from finishing the job.
• The map will be the same but set after the long winter and as such places will have changed as the massive amounts of snow or melt run off carve new rivers or canyons into the landscape. The realms currently blocked off will be unlocked allowing for more exploration while the ones currently in existence will be reworked.
  • Confirmed. Midgard has changed due to three years of Fimbulwinter and is covered by snow, with the Lake of Nine now being frozen, the locked realms can be visited, and new areas of the old ones are seen, such as Alfheim's desert and the regions of Nifleheim that haven't been affected by Ivaldi's curse.
• Freya will at least temporarily regain her ability to fight. After all Odin stripped her of her fighting spirit not her love as a mother which already allowed her to partially bypass his limits raising her hand against both Kratos and Baldur trying to stop them. Given Vanir magic is supposed to be exceptionally tricky this change in motivation will be enough to circumvent the restrictions Odin placed on her.
  • Confirmed.
• Atreus and Kratos will be unwillingly pulled into a war with the Aesir gods. They won't want any part of it but Odin's attention on them for being outsiders, the death of Baldur and Magni, as well as the changes to the predictions of Ragnorok will ensure they can't avoid it.
• Mimir will be educating Atreus on matters that aren't related to war. After all he has a lot of time and very little to do right now.
• Kratos will either pull a heroic sacrifice, like a real heroic sacrifice where he does something utterly selfless at the cost of his own life, or die and end up in Helheim only to be rescued by Atreus. For the former that would be his moment to at least partially redeem himself for everything else he's done wrong not that his issues with his original family are settled. For the latter it may come come as a side effect of the sacrifices but someway or another Atreus will end up dragging Kratos out of the afterlife. They put a giant bird monster there and we didn't fight it after all!
• The next game or which ever concludes the Norse series will end with Kratos and Atreus having killed off a number of the gods of Norse mythology but Midgard and the other Realms still relatively intact. Not only that but with no assholish gods roaming around fucking things up it will be deeply peaceful. Neither of them will be without sin by that point but Kratos will finally pass away in an unexpectedly peaceful manner while Atreus moves on following in his fathers footsteps and leaving home.
• Kratos IS Tyr. Or, he will become Tyr by being time-displaced like Jörmungandr. How else would the temple be so well designed for him to manipulate(through his physical strength and the Leviathan Axe) along with Tyr's armor fitting him perfectly?
• Jossed. Tyr and Kratos are not related in the sequel.

Odin will treat Kratos as an Unknown Rival

While Kratos can have killed all of his ravens in the game and may probably clash with Thor throughout the next game, by the time he meets the Allfather, it turns out he barely knows who Kratos and Atreus are because he's been in the Allsleep preparing for Ragnarok. If Kratos, being the kind of bastard who messes with destiny, kills Thor long before his fated duel, then Odin will be utterly pissed and take matters into his own hands, leading to him throwing Gungnir at Kratos, this time utterly killing him for good and leading Atreus to swear vengeance on the Norse pantheon.

• Jossed. Odin is well-aware of who Kratos is and what he did in Greece, and Kratos doesn't kill Thor and Odin doesn't kill Kratos.

Lengthy time-skip.

So far we have evidence of straightforward time-travel with Jörmungandr and compressed and expanded time between realms. Picture if you will any of the varying scenarios where Kratos could be separated from Atreus in a timey-wimey manner and are only reunited to reveal that things were much shorter on Kratos' side and in his absence Atreus has gotten a lot more Loki-like than when we last saw him.

The Prophecy is already undone.

We already know that Fimbulwinter has came too early, but also another point is that Kratos named Atreus whereas the prophecy states that his name should be Loki, but at no point does Atreus go "I like that name better" or anything. My theory is the reason the prophecy is undone is because of Kratos, he is not part of the 9 realms, he is part of the Greek myth, the Frost Giants powers of prophecy only extend towards members of the 9 Realms, the only reason they even know things about Kratos is due to those parts involving Atreus and Faye, so it's more vague towards anything involving Kratos, kind of like a living paradox, things can go the way of the prophecy, but they also cannot.

The gods are actually Nephilim

This theory is taken from the God of War Wiki

"It is also worth noting that the Book of Genesis describes beings known as "Nephilim", superhuman entities who were the sons of angels and humans and are called the "heroes of old, the men of renown." The book shortly thereafter describes a cataclysmic flood which destroys most of the life, including the Nephilim, on Earth, obliterates all civilizations, and ushers in the age of Judaism as a handful of survivors rebuild the world from scratch; much like the flood brought forth by Kratos' actions in God of War III destroy the Gods, mythical beasts, and all of the perceived world by the end of the game. If the murals in the Hall of the Fates are any indication to the Judeo-Christian nuances in the series, perhaps the Gods of Olympus and supporting mythological figures found throughout the games are to be the Nephilim, the legendary heroes and men of old."

The final boss Kratos and Atreus fight isn't going to be Odin....

It's Heimdall. The Prose Edda states that the two will fight at Ragnarok and ultimately kill each other. Kratos would battle him to spare Atreus, while Heimdall would try his best to fulfill his prophesied destiny. After the duo defeat him and go to face Odin, they'll discover he's already been eaten by Fenrir.

• [[spoiler:Jossed. Odin is the final boss, Heimdall is the Climax Boss.

Faye was actually the daughter of Odin by his giantess' first wife and therefore the sister of Thor

This is why the Leviathan Axe's creation was such an act of expiation for the dwarven brothers, handed off to a good member of the same family whose acts so shamed them. She died because of denying her other heritage. This would restore and deepen the Norse Myth connection between our heroes and villains, making Atreus the grandson of both Zeus and Odin making his future power even further beyond comprehension.

If Kratos dies as prophesied it will be to protect Atreus and Atreus will rename himself Loki.

Atreus will decide if they're so sure he'll become the god that dooms the world, he'll give them what they asked for and change his name to Loki since he can no longer live as his father hand hoped.

Freya will not be an enemy

She will start out the next game very much wanting revenge but over the course of the game see how Baldurs death was really her fault by setting up the self fulfilling prophecy in the first place. She will not like Kratos very much of course but hold no ill will towards Atreus and will help them out again. Especially after finding out that they freed the Valkyries from their torment.

• Confirmed.

Týr isn’t dead.

Týr isn’t dead as many believe, he’s just locked up in Asgard. Odin is far too paranoid about Ragnarök to kill Týr, who is supposed to die by Garm during the final battle. He could also become an ally of Kratos in the next game.

• Confirmed. You get to meet him in the post-game.

Atreus went to the past and manipulated Odin into becoming obsessed about his fate come Ragnarök.

It would make sense in context depending on the story. Atreus going back in time to a point where Odin was still a jackass but not as much as he is now (maybe even when he drank from Mimir's Well of Knowledge) and using a type of precognition magic would show Odin a vision of his death. The resulting shock and horror from such a vision would spur Odin into becoming obsessed with changing his future and therefore setting down the path that Atreus laid out for him. The reason that Atreus would do this may be as part of his plan to take down the Aesir by sowing the seeds of hate and revenge in the people of all the realms and spurring them to fight with him against Asgard when Ragnarök arrives.

There will be an utter Take That! to Kratos's appearance in Fortnite

Considering all the emotes that Fortnite has that people can make Kratos do, including the infamous Default Dance, they'll come across someone who's an imposter (and voiced by Christopher Judge, too) and have Kratos utterly murder the shit out of him or even have a choice of if Kratos, Atreus, or BOTH kill him.

• Nope. There's a reference to PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale (Kratos doesn't want to talk about it), but none to Fortnite.

Atreus will use magic to reanimate and control the dead giants in Jotunheim (same thing Freya did with Thamur) and use them in his assault on Asgard.

If what the final boss battle has shown, not only is what Freya did to Thamur a foreshadowing of of Atreus's magical abilities, but also how vastly superior they will be to Freya's.

• Sadly, jossed. Would've been awesome though.

Tyr will be Evil All Along

Everything he did was in order to give man the knowledge to wage wars on a larger and even crueler scale, taking advantage of how Humans Are Bastards. Ragnarok is his magnum opus of manipulation.

• Jossed. Tyr does turn out to be evil, but that's because it's Odin impersonating Týr. The real deal is just as nice as advertised.

Freya and Kratos will end up fighting in the next game. Bur Kratos will let himself be killed.

After Baldur's death Freya swore an oath to destroy Kratos in every way she could imagine as revenge, but she didn't know what Kratos had done for the Valkiries. No matter how her opinion might change she can no longer change her mind because of that but knowing what happened between them Freya will be holding back considerably. As their queen she will not be able to ignore the service Kratos did for the Vanier and being aware of her oath Kratos will tell Atreus to stay out accepting his death. Atreus will resist but eventually with explanation agree though his grief at the loss of his father will end up creating the World Serpant because god magic.

• Jossed.

Kratos and Atreus will spend most of the sequel apart.

Odin or Thor will kidnap Atreus in the first hour of the game. Kratos will lose his powers again as is tradition. Kratos and Mimir will travel across the realms to find the boy. Atreus ages considerably faster (by Midgard standards) and learns magic in Asgard. He eventually escapes and travels back in time to blow the horn to prevent something horrible from happening, perhaps another time traveler was trying to kill Kratos and Atreus during "The Sickness". Freya will be the final boss and they'll reconcile after defeating her. Fimbulwinter ends and Ragnarok properly begins.

• While Kratos and Atreus do spend a good amount of the sequel apart (with Atreus becoming a playable charracter), they also work together for most of it, and the rest of the theory is jossed. The game starts after Fimbulwinter ends, Atreus goes to Asgard of his own free will, ages at a normal rate, Freya gives up her vendetta midway through, and Odin is the final boss.

Odin is intentionally speeding up to Ragnarök.

Mimir points out that he had Odin marry Faye to bring about peace. Odin instead use it as a chance to learn Vanir magic and turned against the giants once more. Furthermore, Mimir was trying everything to make sure Ragnarök was either averted or that Asgard would be as strong as it could be with enough allies to save as many people as possible. Also, with the death of Baldur 100 years early being caused directly by Odin sending him to Kratos it's possible that Odin intended that to happen. Mimir assumes that Odin is just a monster, but maybe Odin has a bigger plan in mind or just wants a Taking You with Me scenario. It's hard to imagine that the wisest of all gods was just so paranoid that he unintentionally sped up doomsday and ruined his top advisor's credibility. The fact that Magni and Baldur fail to resurrect after being killed when normally Aesir journey to Valhalla under their own power indicates something bigger at work here.

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