Centaur

The Centaurs were monsters of the Greek world, beings both part man and part horse. Once renowned for their poetry and their wine, they became fearsome warriors recruited across Greece for their prowess in battle, and Kratos faced them in the deep places of Pandora's Temple and in the wars of the gods. (God of War; God of War III; God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla)

From poets to warriors#

According to the journal Kratos keeps in Valhalla, the Centaurs had not always been beasts of war. They were once well known for their poetry and their wine-making in the forests of Mount Pelion, living after their own fashion among the trees. It was only when the Lapiths encroached upon their forests that the Centaurs took up arms to defend their home. Their skill in that war did not go unnoticed, and before long they were being recruited across the whole of Greece for their martial prowess. (God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla)

In the older tales of Greece the Centaurs were a varied kind. Among them was Chiron, an uncharacteristically peaceful and wise Centaur, a renowned healer and teacher whom some accounts make a son of the Titan Cronos. Another was Nessus, who played a great part in the death of Hercules. (Apollodorus, Library; Sophocles, Women of Trachis)

The Centaur Generals#

The mightiest of all the Centaurs were the Centaur Generals, a powerful breed adorned in heavy armor and bearing deadly spears. They were commanders as much as warriors, able to marshal the Olympus Sentries and grant them greater skill and cunning in battle, so that they were far more dangerous under a Centaur General's command than left to their own devices. When no lesser foes stood near, a General would lower its spear and charge, driving the weapon through any warrior who failed to turn the blow aside and hurling him across the field. (God of War III)

Kratos first met the Centaurs deep within Pandora's Temple, where he was made to slay eight of them within twin rings of magic as a blood sacrifice demanded by Hades, and a single one more in the Maze that followed. They were rare foes there, mysterious in their scarcity. Years later, in the final fall of Olympus, he faced three of the great Centaur Generals: one in the Tomb of Ares, one leading an undead legion up the steps of Olympia, and the last standing guard over the Gates of Tisiphone in Tartarus. A vision of these armored Generals had haunted Kratos before, for they had ridden in the attack on Sparta during which his brother Deimos was taken from their family. (God of War; God of War III; God of War: Ghost of Sparta)