Dionysus: the Olympian god of wine

Dionysus was the Olympian god of wine and revelry, numbered among the gods of Mount Olympus and counted a son of Zeus. He never crosses paths with Kratos in the games, but in the God of War II novel his theft of Ariadne, the love of the hero Theseus, helped bind Theseus to the will of the Sisters of Fate. (God of War II (novel); Bacchae)

The god of wine#

In Greek myth Dionysus was the god of wine and the vine, of revelry and of the ritual madness that seized his worshippers. In the God of War II novel he was reckoned among the Olympians, and Kratos knew him as a god with little regard for fidelity, a reputation that shaped his part in the fate of others. (Bacchae; God of War II (novel))

The sorrow of Theseus#

In the God of War II novel, the wine god desired Ariadne, daughter of King Minos and the beloved of the Athenian hero Theseus. Dionysus forced Theseus to abandon her upon the island of Naxos so that he might take her for himself, and the spurned Ariadne laid a curse upon her former love. The grief of these events ran deeper still, for the tragedy was bound up with the death of Theseus' father, King Aegeus, who had taken his own life in sorrow believing his son dead. Driven by the loss of both his love and his father, Theseus entered the service of the Sisters of Fate, hoping they might grant the wine god a new lover and restore Ariadne to him, and return Aegeus to life. When Kratos later questioned why Theseus would surrender his love so willingly, he reminded the Athenian that Dionysus was not a god known for faithfulness. (God of War II (novel))

Fate unknown#

Dionysus never appears before Kratos and takes no part in the defence of Olympus against him in God of War III. The game never shows what became of him during the Ghost of Sparta's destruction of Olympus, so his fate remains unknown. (God of War III)