I read every God of War wikipedia entry to understand Ragnarok

God of War (2018) was the first game in the series that I played thanks to its excellent reviews. So I played most of them God of War Ragnarok while it is referred to as god of war 2 or God of War: Boy Strikes Back. If you made the mistake of assuming Ragnarok is a pure sequel, you know it’s a perfectly understandable one. Taking the eponymous title of the 2005 original, the 2018 game is quite a hard reset, taking the franchise into the modern console age. Ragnarok is actually very confusing if you haven’t played God of War (2018). And that made me wonder if it’s worth re-reading previous entries for my own understanding too.

Although my colleagues assured me that the 2018 entry stands well enough on its own, I compulsively read the Wikipedia entries of previous installments to see if there were plot beats and tidbits that would improve my understanding Ragnarok‘s story. The summary of God of War (2018) on RagnarokThe main menu is incredibly confusing and not very helpful – but I’ve found Wikipedia to be a perfectly viable way to enjoy things of horror movies I’m too scared to watch about books I want to make small talk about.

To be clear, I don’t review the games themselves based on the Wikipedia descriptions – that’s not a review, baby! I amHowever, I do check how valuable these entries are to me since I know what the heck is going on in them Ragnarok, in an effort to provide a good – or if not good, passable – description of important background information. And while there have been a number of God of War spinoffs for platforms like PlayStation Portable or for mobile, I’ll stick with the three main entries – God of War (2005), god of war 2 (2007) and God of War 3 (2010). Just like that.

God of War (2005)

Funniest Kratos line: Go with the classic opening banger that Kratos says while standing on top of a massive cliff before throwing himself off the side: “The gods of Olympus have abandoned me. Now there is no hope.”

Strangest fact that won’t let me live: So I looked at a supercut from each one sex minigame. I knew at least one of the games had a mini-game like this, but I didn’t know how many were. That is much! God of War (2018) was the first title in the core franchise without any kind of sex scene. I am grateful for that.

What Wikipedia taught me: When I was playing God of War (2018) I was initially disoriented by his lore. This world is clearly steeped in Norse mythology, with the Yggdrasil, Viking aesthetic prominent and the revelation that Atreus is “Loki”. I’m pretty sure Loki’s father, at least in mythology, isn’t a Greek named Kratos. I’ve also noticed that they regularly talk about the Greek gods, which I’m also pretty sure are completely different. Like other terminally lonely kids, I had a favorite Greek mythology book that I told other kids about at the playground. Was there an interplay between Greek and Norse mythology that I had somehow overlooked?

Although the 2018 game fills some of that context, it is Wikipedia entry for the original game really does it for me. God of War (2005) is set entirely in a world of Greek mythology. That makes a lot of sense. All the time I thought about Kratos started as a god (actually the god of war), but he was actually a guy who made a bad deal with Ares before making a bad deal with Athena. Unfortunately, the details are a bit muddled upon reading, but the clear takeaway is that Kratos has made deals with gods that have repeatedly not gone well. But he does eventually kill Ares and take his place in the pantheon. Killing a God is very Metal and amazing JRPG by Kratos. I can respect his rise from Spartan to god of war.

Sadly, I also learn that Kratos had a completely separated wife and child whom he tragically accidentally killed. I didn’t know that an oracle bound the ashes of the deceased to Kratos skin; I assumed he was just pale. This is an extremely stressful development. Does the ash… ever come off? Does Mimir inhale this while his disembodied head bangs on Kratos’ butt during exploration and combat? Damn thoughts for another time.

God of War 2 (2007)

Image: SHE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment

Funniest Kratos line: Kratos monologues about the “Lies of the Gods” and yells “I’m cursed!” during facing a giant octopus.

Strangest fact that won’t let me live: Kratos then fights the Krakenthat’s pretty wild.

What Wikipedia taught me: That The Wikipedia plot summary here is extremely detailed; kudos to the people who contributed. Although I don’t think the plot itself is invaluable for understanding Ragnarokthe themes of this sequel give much more emphasis to the themes of contemporary games.

As in the first game, Kratos is thrown to the ground right at the start, slaying gods and climbing his way to victory. Kratos also spends a lot of god of war 2 tries to change his fate to get revenge on Zeus, who tricked and killed him – and reduced him to a mere mortal to begin with. Changing fate is a dominant theme in Ragnarokand I can understand why a man who was once obsessed with changing his own might be wary of his son reversing his path.

I also appreciate the plot point of Kratos freeing Prometheus (until his death and rest) which reflects the themes of the contemporary releases – particularly when he frees Mimir.

Here are the enormous and important takeaways. Kratos kills Athena; she sacrifices herself to protect Zeus. Then Kratos learns that Zeus is his father. That explains a lot of Kratos’ exhaustion Ragnarok, and why he is reluctant to see Atreus follow in his footsteps. we was remembered that Kratos’ father is Zeus God of War (2018), when they meet in Helheim – that’s what happens to Mimir too. Atreus later sees a memory of Kratos killing Zeus. As the scene moved, I was still confused about the presence of the Greek god in this Norse game. Now I have a more complete picture.

This context also lends the “Atreus is Loki” reveal at the end of the God of War (2018) – Kratos is really one of the few characters that can be plausibly related. If only he and his son could have a real conversation about it!

God of War 3 (2010)

Image: SHE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment

Funniest Kratos line: It’s extremely hard to choose since Kratos Shades So many gods. But I have to go Kratos attacks Hephaestus. The Forge God says, “I thought Zeus would have killed you by now.” Kratos replies, “I thought you would have escaped that cave by now.” Extremely sick burning.

Strangest fact that won’t let me live: Not a fact in itself, but just the sheer number of Greek gods he kills is impressive. An inspiration for all of us.

What Wikipedia taught me: Contrary to other Wikipedia entries which gave me more of a preamble on why Kratos behaves a certain way, this jumps in pretty quickly. Kratos attacks the Greek gods. After reading the Wikipedia pages for previous entries, I actually know why. But coming cold would be pretty fun.

Kratos falls again towards the underworld and has to fight his way from the bottom up. All the gods are on his shit list and it looks like he kills them whenever he gets the chance, starting with Poseidon. That is not enough. He kills Hades. He kills Helios. He is a very angry man! Who is he fighting for? The Wikipedia entry doesn’t actually say, but I’m buckled for the ride.

Next in his fire book is Hermes, whom Kratos kills. He then kills Hephaestus (obviously in self-defense) and then he kills Hera. Incidentally, every time a god is killed, an entire category of objects are wiped from the surface of the earth — as well as important things like lights and plants. The Wikipedia plot synopsis builds up to this final moment of Kratos’ ultimate revenge: “He forces Zeus’ spirit back into his body and then beats him to death.” Then Kratos stabs himself and presumably dies. But not really, as a trail of blood suggests he may have survived. (Spoilers, he survives; there are more God of War games to come.)

After reading these entries, if I were to go back and play any of these games, I would probably go for the third entry. Although the first two have a more coherent backstory and give a better look at Kratos’ history, I just love the premise of hunting down all the Greek gods in one massive slasher fest. (By the way, my favorite quote from 2018 God of War is “Young.”)

I can also better appreciate the risky move of making Kratos a father in the contemporary series given his vengeful, bloody past. Although the idea of ​​this Kratos being the weakened version is pretty fun as he’s still prone to tantrums (which I enjoy since they’re great for breaking up fights). If we’re anticipating another entry, I hope they soften it further by giving it a dad-bod. I think that would be worth a Wikipedia entry.