Blades of Chaos: chained to Kratos' arms

The Blades of Chaos were the signature weapons carried by Kratos through the Greek era of his life. Forged in the depths of the Underworld, by the smith god Hephaestus according to the novelisation, and bestowed upon Kratos by Ares, the twin blades were bound by their chains to the flesh of his arms. Widely feared throughout Greece, they came to embody what Kratos had become during the darkest period of his life: the monster who killed his own family in a god-driven frenzy and earned the name Ghost of Sparta. The blades drew their power from primordial Chaos and burned with the fire of Tartarus. (God of War (2005); God of War: Ascension; God of War (novel))

Forging and the marked warrior#

The Blades of Chaos were commissioned by Ares and forged in the darkest depths of the Underworld; the novelisation of the first game names Hephaestus as their smith. Ares, who was plotting against his father Zeus, wanted a warrior bound to his purpose. The twin blades were imbued with the primordial fire of Tartarus, and their power was linked to Chaos itself, which made them indestructible. The chains attached to their pommels could stretch out with each strike, allowing fluid, sweeping attacks no matter who held them. Beyond their own fire, the blades could channel other divine energies, such as the fire of Ares, the ice of Poseidon, the lightning of Zeus and the souls of Hades. (God of War (2005); God of War: Ascension; God of War (novel))

Bound to Kratos#

After Kratos pledged his life to the God of War on the brink of defeat against the Barbarian horde, Ares had his Harpies fetch the Blades of Chaos and bestowed them on the Spartan. The chains were seared permanently onto Kratos' forearms, a lasting mark of his oath that could only be removed by the God of War himself or when his servitude ended. With the new weapons Kratos slew the Barbarian King Alrik in single combat. The blades fed his rage and bloodlust for years, drawing the life-force from his many victims to heal his wounds and feed his strength, though each slaughter left his mind in unrest. (God of War (2005); God of War: Ascension)

The slaughter of his family#

In a plot to bind his servant to him forever through a blood-oath devised with the aid of the Furies, Ares turned Kratos' brutality against his own wife Lysandra and daughter Calliope. Driven into a god-induced frenzy, the Spartan unknowingly killed his family. Shattered by shame and loss, Kratos swore that Ares would pay with his life and broke his oath, though the chains remained seared to his flesh. When the Furies later captured and tortured him in the Prison of the Damned, he broke free and hunted them down, the Queen Alecto and her sister Megaera both falling to the Blades of Chaos. (God of War (2005); God of War: Ascension)

In the service of Olympus#

Kratos pledged himself to the gods of Olympus as their servant, hoping to atone and rid himself of the visions that plagued him. For ten years the Blades of Chaos served him through his quests, including his quest to rescue the sun god Helios from the titan Atlas. He valued the blades for their ability to heal his wounds by draining the life of his foes and bystanders alike, and considered them the only gift from Ares he still appreciated, intending to use the War God's own weapon to slay him. (God of War (2005); God of War: Chains of Olympus)

His final task in Greece sent him against Ares himself, who had attacked the city of Athens. After slaying the Hydra and fighting through the besieged city, Kratos beheaded Medusa, conquered the Temple of Pandora, and confronted his former master. During the battle Ares ripped the blades from Kratos' arms and turned them against him, but the gods granted Kratos the Blade of the Gods, with which he slew Ares. Athena then made Kratos the new God of War and rewarded him with the Blades of Athena, more powerful weapons fit for an Olympian. (God of War (2005))

Retirement and return#

As God of War, Kratos set the Blades of Chaos aside and fought with the Blades of Athena instead. Yet the cursed blades proved impossible to be rid of. After the destruction of Olympus they kept coming back to him; in the Fallen God comic, when he tries to sink them in the sea, the sea throws them back and wrecks his boat, and he washes ashore with the blades beside him. He finally wrapped them in a red cloth and hid them beneath the floorboards of his cabin in the Wildwoods of Midgard. (God of War II; God of War: Fallen God; God of War (2018))

When his son Atreus fell ill, Kratos learned that the cure lay in Helheim, where the cold rendered the frost of his Leviathan Axe useless. He retrieved the blades and grimly rebound their chains to his arms. Their fire proved able to burn even in the ancient land of the dead, the first known flame to do so there. Restored progressively by Brok and Sindri with Chaos Flames, the cracked Greek blades took on a refined Nordic style, gaining glyphs and a serpent motif. (God of War (2018))

Fimbulwinter and Ragnarok#

After completing his quest with Atreus, Kratos again set the blades aside and relied on the Leviathan Axe for three years. By the time Ragnarok began, the magic-weakening Fimbulwinter had reverted the blades to their cracked, rusted state, until Brok, Sindri, and later Lunda restored them once more with Chaos Flames. When Surtr sensed the primordial fire within the blades, he used them to transfer their flame and the spark of the world into the heart of his beloved Sinmara within his own body, becoming Ragnarok itself. Asked by Atreus why he kept weapons he seemed to hate, Kratos answered that even hateful things could be useful. (God of War Ragnarök)