Blades of Athena

The Blades of Athena were the second set of chained blades that Kratos wielded in Greece. The goddess Athena bestowed them upon him after he slew Ares and took the empty throne of the God of War, setting aside the Blades of Chaos he had carried as Ares' servant. More powerful than any weapon a mortal could wield, they served as Kratos' main arms during his reign as a god and for years afterward, until they were destroyed and reforged into the Blades of Exile.

Gift of a goddess#

Also known as Athena's Blades, the weapons were given to Kratos by Athena after he killed the former God of War, Ares, and claimed the throne of Olympus. They served as his main weapons during his reign as a god and for years after. While Kratos held godly power the blades gave off a yellow aura and were gold in color with blue glyphs, a sign of the divine magic that emanated from them. They carried none of the emotional weight of the Blades of Chaos, the cursed weapons Kratos had used as Ares' servant, and so the new God of War was content to favor them and leave his old blades stored away.

Loss and restoration of power#

When Kratos drained the remainder of his godly powers into the Blade of Olympus during his battle against the Colossus of Rhodes, the Blades of Athena reverted to a plain steel form with only a faint aura. Over the course of his renewed quest they were restored, gradually regaining their gold color until, at their strongest, they emitted a red flaming glow with red glyphs. The shifting color of the blades tracked Kratos' own state: golden during his triumphant time as a god, and red during his campaigns of vengeance against Ares and Zeus.

Destruction and the Blades of Exile#

Kratos still carried the Blades of Athena at the beginning of his final campaign against Olympus. When he fell into the River Styx, however, the souls that swarmed and attacked him drained him of his power, and in the same ordeal the blades were ruined and rusted by the assault. Afterward the astral form of Athena took up the ruined weapons and transformed them into the Blades of Exile, which Kratos carried through the remainder of his war on Olympus.