Freya

Freya, known to the Aesir as Frigg and to the people of Midgard as the Witch of the Woods, was the Vanir goddess of love, beauty, war, death, magic, and fertility. The daughter of Njörd and the older twin sister of Freyr, she once led the Vanir during the Aesir-Vanir War and reigned as Queen of the Valkyries. She married Odin to seal an uneasy peace, bore him a son in Baldur, and was cursed to remain in Midgard for the rest of her days. There she crossed paths with Kratos and his son Atreus, whose journey turned her from ally to enemy and, in time, back to ally again.

The Vanir queen and the war with Asgard#

Freya grew up in a village of Vanaheim alongside her brother Freyr, and in time she became a leader of the Vanir. When the armies of Asgard invaded, she helped defend her homeland, holding the once-unstoppable Aesir to a stalemate and forcing Odin to open peace negotiations. To end the war she agreed to wed Odin, the man she hated, sacrificing her own freedom for the sake of the Nine Realms. Many of the Vanir saw the marriage as a betrayal. During this time she became Queen of the Valkyries, and Odin began to learn the ways of her magic.

For a time, by Mimir's account, the two were genuinely in love. But Odin's obsession with Jötunheim, his corruption of the magic she had taught him, and his endless paranoia over Ragnarök drove him and the Aesir to monstrous acts against the giants. Freya broke off the marriage after Odin begged her to place upon him the same invulnerability she had once given Baldur. Her refusal incurred his wrath.

Odin's curse#

Out of fear and a sense of betrayal, Odin cursed Freya so that she could never leave Midgard, and made it impossible for her to harm any living creature by physical or magical means. He stripped away her Valkyrie wings and hid them, leaving a warrior in spirit with nothing to do but live in isolation. To deny her any credit, he attributed her every worthy deed to the name Frigg, which he had called her out of affection. His forces reoccupied Vanaheim after her exile, and her own people, including her brother, branded her a traitor, not knowing the curse prevented her from ever returning to them.

The one thing she cherished from the marriage was Baldur. A prophecy foretold his needless death, and her fear drove her to place a spell of invulnerability upon him. The spell spared him from harm but robbed him of all physical sensation, including taste and pleasure. Baldur demanded she lift it; she claimed she could not, though in truth mistletoe could break it, and so she came to view that plant as wicked. He vowed to hate her forever.

The Witch of the Woods#

Living reclusively in the woods of Midgard, Freya first met Kratos and Atreus when the boy shot and injured a boar she was protecting. She healed the animal, took a quick liking to Atreus, and warned Kratos that the Aesir would not tolerate a foreign god in their realms. She marked the two so the Aesir gods could not find them, guided them to the temple of Tyr, and showed Kratos how to use the Bifrost, though the curse dragged her back to Midgard whenever she tried to follow.

When Atreus fell gravely ill after a battle with the brothers Magni and Modi, Freya sheltered him and told Kratos that only a rare ingredient from Helheim could cure him. She scolded Kratos for keeping the boy ignorant of his divine nature, then revealed her own grief: that she too had a son foretold to die, and that her efforts to save him had cost her his love. She urged Kratos not to repeat her mistakes.

Their alliance broke when Baldur came hunting the pair. After an accident with a mistletoe arrowhead stripped away his invulnerability, Freya raised the corpse of the frost giant Thamur to keep Kratos and Atreus from her son, swearing she would protect him at any cost. When Baldur turned on her and began to strangle her, telling her he would never forgive her, Kratos broke his neck to save her life. Distraught, Freya swore vengeance, calling Kratos an animal and promising to deliver every agony imaginable upon him.

The years of vengeance#

For three years through the long winter of Fimbulwinter, Freya hunted Kratos and Atreus. The thaw of that winter had weakened some of Odin's curses, letting her fight again, though she still could not return to Vanaheim for long. She ambushed the pair whenever they left the protection of their home, and even told Raider bands that killing Kratos would end the endless winter, sending them to their deaths. With the help of the Valkyrie Sigrun she reclaimed her wings, and she ambushed Kratos and Atreus under the mask of Vanadis, her Valkyrie guise, until Kratos recognized her sword.

When Atreus enraged into the form of a bear and nearly killed her, Kratos knocked her clear and calmed his son, calling her their friend. Stunned by the care he showed, Freya found herself conflicted, and judged that Kratos might be of more use to her alive than dead.

Freedom and forgiveness#

Seeking to break Odin's binding magic for good, Freya travelled to Vanaheim with Kratos. There Kratos at last told her of his own past: the loss of his brother Deimos, the unintended slaying of his wife and daughter through Ares' manipulation, and the fall of Olympus. He warned her that vengeance would bring her no more peace than it had brought him. Together they found the source of the curse, a tangle of World Tree roots, and were attacked by Nidhogg, guardian of Yggdrasil. After the beast was slain, Freya tore each root free, ending Odin's curse at last.

Reflecting on what she had learned, Freya forgave Kratos, acknowledging that a part of her would always be angry for her son's death but that it was Odin who truly deserved to die. Kratos in turn admitted that, while he did not regret saving her life, he should not have robbed her of the choice over Baldur's fate. She reconciled with Freyr and rejoined Kratos as an ally and companion.

The fall of Asgard#

When Odin, disguised for a time as Tyr, murdered the dwarf Brok and was unmasked, Freya joined the others in resolving to face him directly. During the final battle she used her Valkyrie power to force Odin to his knees, repaying him for her son's fate and the abuse of their marriage. After Atreus sealed Odin's soul in a stone and offered Freya the chance to destroy it, she refused, having learned that revenge would only leave her empty, though a grieving Sindri shattered it regardless. As the fire giant Surtr brought down Asgard, Freyr sacrificed himself so that Freya and the others could escape.

In the aftermath she embraced Atreus as family, then chose to remain at Kratos' side, helping him rebuild the Nine Realms much as Atreus once had. Together they freed the true Tyr, hunted down the surviving Valkyrie queen Gna, and stood with the others at Brok's funeral. In the time that followed she set about forming a council to share power across all the realms, and urged Kratos to take up the office of God of War within it, a request he wrestled with until, after his trials in Valhalla, he agreed.