Blades of Exile

The Blades of Exile were a refashioned form of the Blades of Athena, the third and last set of chained blades that Kratos carried through his time in Greece. They came into his hands at the lowest point of his final war against Olympus, made anew from his ruined weapons by the goddess Athena, and they served him as his staple arm through the destruction that followed.

Forged from ruin#

The Blades of Exile were born of disaster. After the Blades of Athena were ruined by Kratos' fall into the River Styx, the astral form of Athena appeared to him in his despair. She took up the ruined weapons and transformed them into the Blades of Exile, gifting them to Kratos so that he might press on against Zeus. In doing so she also set him toward the source of Zeus' strength, the Flame of Olympus, that he might find the means to destroy his father. They were the only one of the three sets of chained blades Kratos wielded that had no long history behind them, forged anew and given to him in the moment of his need.

Form and power#

The blades resembled their predecessors in the way they moved, but their appearance was their own. Tormented demonic faces with curved horn-like spikes rose from the heads on their hilts, pronounced hooks ran along their lower edges, and intricate patterns of shimmering orange stripes covered their flat sides, casting fire whenever the blades were swung. Beyond their reach as twin chained weapons, the Blades of Exile granted Kratos the power known as Army of Sparta, summoning a phalanx of shields and spears to drive back his enemies, as well as the ability to grapple foes and pull himself toward them. Of the three sets of chained blades he had borne, they were considered among the most potent on their own, the only one able to unleash a magical attack without the aid of another weapon, and they were named his most powerful ally against Olympus.

Fate after Olympus#

What became of the Blades of Exile after the end of Kratos' war was never fully told. They were last seen discarded by Kratos once he had forced the soul of Zeus back into his body, his quest and theirs complete, the chains on his arms loosened with the death of his enemy. Long after Greece had fallen and Kratos had made his way to the Norse realms, a depiction of the Blades of Exile appeared upon a vase kept within the vault of Týr, a faint echo of the weapons that had carried him through the fall of the gods.