Colossus of Rhodes

The Colossus of Rhodes was a vast bronze statue of the sun god Helios that stood over the port of the city of Rhodes. For most of its existence it was only a monument, but Zeus gave it terrible life to destroy Kratos, and the animated giant tore through the city in pursuit of the Spartan. Its fall would mark the moment Kratos was stripped of his godhood and brought to the edge of death.

The bronze giant of the harbor#

The Colossus was a colossal bronze figure cast in the likeness of Helios, the god of the sun, and it loomed over the port of Rhodes as a wonder of the Greek world. While Kratos led his Spartan army against the city as the God of War, Zeus chose the great statue as the instrument of the Spartan's destruction. Descending in the form of an eagle, the King of the Gods drained nearly all of Kratos' godly power and transferred it into the bronze, and the stolen divinity gave the Colossus life.

The battle for Rhodes#

Newly animated, the Colossus broke free of its moorings and strode into the city of Rhodes. As Kratos fought his way through the streets, the giant opposed him at every turn, smashing through buildings and channeling raw godly energy through the broken seams of its body in bursts of blue flame. Kratos struck back again and again, stabbing out the statue's right eye, slashing its cheeks, and blasting off its left hand. Yet the Colossus did not tire. It grew stronger and more cunning by the moment, feeding on the very power Zeus had taken from the Spartan, until Kratos found himself outmatched, fighting without the full strength of a god he had come to rely upon.

The fall and its price#

Pressed to the brink, Kratos accepted the Blade of Olympus that Zeus offered him and drained the last of his divinity into the weapon. With its power he blasted a hole in the Colossus' side, climbed inside the statue, and drew out all of the godly energy that animated it. Stripped of its power, the great bronze figure began to collapse, and Kratos escaped through its mouth onto a platform below. The Colossus achieved its purpose only in death. Its falling hand crushed the now mortal Spartan, weakening him so completely that Zeus was able to run him through with the Blade of Olympus and leave him for dead.