Calliope

Calliope was the beloved daughter of Kratos and Lysandra, born and raised in Sparta. She and her mother were unknowingly slain by Kratos as part of a plot by Ares to harden the Spartan's heart and forge from him a perfect warrior with no ties to the mortal realm. Her death instead became the driving force behind Kratos' war of vengeance against the God of War.

Birth and early life#

Calliope was born and raised in Sparta, living with her mother Lysandra in the country. At birth she was found to suffer from a skin disease, set upon her by Ares, that left her weak and so, in the eyes of Spartan law, condemned her to be sacrificed. She was spared only because Kratos set out on a quest for the elixir Ambrosia after consulting a healer who gave him the Fire of Apollo, a healer hinted to be Zeus in disguise. Returning to Sparta, Kratos narrowly saved Calliope from being thrown to her death, and when Lysandra pleaded for the child's life, the King of Sparta upheld his promise and allowed Kratos to cure her with the Ambrosia.

Though Calliope was easily frightened by her father's violent nature, she and her mother were among the very few who did not fear him, and she remained close to him, anxiously awaiting his return from each campaign. On one such homecoming Kratos stayed long enough to carve her a simple wooden flute, telling her a story of his time in the Agoge with his brother Deimos as he worked. As she grew, Calliope became a gifted player and composed many gentle and emotional melodies.

Death#

Both Calliope and Lysandra were in a village of Athena's worshippers when Kratos and a battalion of his soldiers arrived. Having pledged himself to Ares, Kratos ordered the village destroyed with no survivors and entered the Temple of Athena to slay all within with the Blades of Chaos. His blood frenzy blinded him to whom he struck, and by the time it lifted it was too late; Calliope and Lysandra, brought to the temple by Ares, lay dead by his hand. The deception was Ares' design, meant to free Kratos of the family that held him back and make of him the ultimate warrior. From that day Kratos was consumed by guilt and sought endlessly for forgiveness and freedom from his nightmares.

The Elysium Fields#

After her death, Calliope was not condemned among the common dead but allowed to dwell in the Elysium Fields at the base of the Pillar of the World, living among its peaceful surroundings and wandering as far as the nearby Temple of Persephone, where she played her flute on the dock above the River Styx. When Helios was torn from the sky and the world plunged into darkness, Morpheus extended his grip over the land, and his power carried Calliope's lingering melody all the way to Kratos. He recognized the song as his daughter's and followed it on his quest to free Helios, until his path led him into the Underworld and to the Temple of Persephone, where he glimpsed her on the docks.

Resolving to abandon both mankind and the gods to their fate so that he might spend his days at peace with his daughter, Kratos gave up his weapons, his powers, and with them his sins, and so became worthy to enter Elysium. He and Calliope were joyfully reunited, but the reunion was cut short when Persephone revealed her plan to use Atlas to destroy the Pillar of the World, an act that would annihilate Earth, Olympus, and Elysium alike, killing Calliope a second time. To stop her, Kratos was forced to forsake his place beside his daughter; he reclaimed his abilities by slaughtering the souls of Elysium, became the Ghost of Sparta once more, and departed to defeat Persephone and bind Atlas beneath the world, leaving a grieving Calliope behind.

Later memory#

In the years that followed, Ares raised twisted images of Calliope and Lysandra during his final battle with Kratos, only to slay them again before his eyes, and Gaia briefly wore Calliope's likeness to speak to him. When Zeus cast Kratos into his own mind, Kratos at last encountered his wife and daughter under the guidance of Pandora and freed himself from his torment, embracing them and forgiving himself. A note left by Calliope was found near the Three Judges, in which she wept that her father had not protected her and accepted that she must go on to Elysium.

Centuries later, in the Norse realms, Kratos confided Calliope's story to the goddess Freya when she demanded how he could know the pain of losing a child. In Valhalla he came upon the flute he had carved for her and told Mimir of their reunion in Elysium and the choice that had torn him from her, admitting that he had long thought of her and only found a measure of peace after meeting Faye, and that he still hoped his daughter had found peace of her own.