The Elysium Fields

The Elysium Fields were the part of the Underworld where the souls of the good and pure dwelt. Unlike the rest of the realm of the dead, Elysium was a paradise, and it was there that the Pillar of the World, the giant pillar holding up the Greek world, rested. It was in these fields that Kratos was briefly reunited with his daughter Calliope, and there that he was forced to give her up a second time to stop the goddess Persephone from destroying the world.

A paradise within the Underworld#

The Elysium Fields were set apart from the rest of the Underworld. Where the realm of the dead was a hellish landscape, Elysium was a paradise reserved for the souls of those who had been good and pure in life. Within the fields stood the Pillar of the World, a giant pillar that held up the Greek world itself, making the fields not only a haven for noble souls but a place of immense importance to the structure of creation.

Kratos and Calliope#

When Kratos came to the Underworld searching for his daughter Calliope, the goddess Persephone told him that those who bore weapons could not enter Elysium, for they could not be pure. To pass, he had to relinquish his power to the Forsaken Tree. Kratos obeyed and was reunited with his daughter, willing in that moment to abandon the gods to whatever fate awaited them.

His peace did not last. Persephone revealed that she intended to destroy the Pillar of the World, an act that would have annihilated everything. To stop her, Kratos needed his power back, and that power was held by the souls dwelling in the fields. Reluctantly, he pushed Calliope away and began killing the souls of Elysium, taking back his strength and becoming the Ghost of Sparta once more. The act caused his daughter grief and fed the madness that would later drive him to attempt to take his own life at the Suicide Bluffs in Athens, but Kratos knew the corrupt goddess had to be stopped, even at the cost of forsaking his own child.