Gaia
the Mother of the Titans
Gaia was the Primordial Goddess of the Earth, mother of the Titans and grandmother of the Olympians. She raised the infant Zeus, mourned the fall of her children, and bound her fate to Kratos in a war of vengeance that ended with both betrayed.
Gaia was the Primordial Goddess of the Earth, mother of the Titans and grandmother and great-grandmother of the Olympian gods. The Earth itself given form, she watched over the whole of Greek history and narrated the rise and fall of Kratos. Having once saved the infant Zeus only to see her children cast down, she nursed a long hatred for Olympus and bound her cause to the Ghost of Sparta, a pact that ended in mutual betrayal and her death at his hands.
The first age#
A descendant of Chaos, Gaia was among the first of the Primordials, and with Ouranos, god of the sky, she gave birth to Pontus, the elder Cyclopes, the Hecatonchires, and the Titans. Ouranos proved a cruel husband and father who cast his monstrous elder sons into the abyss of Tartarus. Gaia refused to accept this and, taking the counsel of her son Hyperion, bestowed upon him the Primordial Fire so that the way might be opened for her children's freedom. Yet it was her youngest son, Cronos, the Titan of Time and Harvest, who had hatred enough to challenge his father. In a terrible battle Cronos slew and usurped Ouranos, and the Golden Age of the Titans began, though he broke his promise to free his imprisoned siblings.
The fall of the Titans#
It was prophesied that Cronos would be overthrown by his own children as he had overthrown his father, and to prevent it he swallowed each of his offspring at birth. His wife Rhea, unable to bear another loss, tricked him into swallowing a stone in place of the infant Zeus, who was raised in secret within Gaia herself. When Zeus came of age he freed his siblings and waged the first great war against the Titans.
Gaia fought beside her children against both the young gods and Destiny itself, but the Sisters of Fate decreed the Titans' defeat. Her sons and many grandsons were cast into Tartarus, and she herself was stripped of her physical form, left as an ever-present spirit within the Earth. In later ages she brought forth the storm-Titan Typhon and the earth-born Giants in further failed attempts to depose the gods, then kept a lower profile, intrigued by a prophecy that a marked mortal warrior would one day destroy Olympus.
Alliance with Kratos#
Gaia watched over Kratos from his earliest years, waiting for the ungrateful Olympians to discard him. After Zeus betrayed and killed Kratos, casting him into the Underworld, Gaia revealed herself, healed his wounds, and returned him to life, offering to guide him to the Sisters of Fate so that he might travel back to the moment of Zeus's betrayal and reclaim the Blade of Olympus. Her intervention defied the very fate the Sisters had decreed, and they were outraged at her meddling.
Reaching out to Titans such as Cronos, Atlas, and her son Typhon, Gaia rallied allies to Kratos's cause, though Typhon refused, blaming his mother for the Titans' downfall. As Kratos journeyed across the Island of Creation, Gaia guided and encouraged him, even appearing in the likeness of his wife to renew his resolve, until he destroyed the Sisters of Fate and gained the power of Time. Kratos then summoned Gaia and the Titans from the moment of their ancient defeat into his own age, beginning the second great war on Olympus.
Betrayal and death#
Gaia carried Kratos up Mount Olympus as the Titans clashed with the gods, and together they slew Poseidon before confronting Zeus. When Zeus struck them both down with a thunderbolt and Gaia clung to the mountain by her vines, Kratos begged for aid. She refused, declaring that helping him would doom them both, calling him a pawn who had outlived his use, and let him fall, saying the war was for the Titans. Kratos swore revenge as he plummeted.
When Kratos escaped the Underworld and found Gaia again, still clinging to the mountain and now begging him for help, he returned her betrayal in full, severing the vines of her wounded hand and sending her plummeting. Her apparent death turned many Titans against him. Yet Gaia survived, replacing her lost hand with twisted roots, and returned during Kratos's final battle with Zeus, declaring she would destroy them both for the harm done to her Earth. Father and son fell into her body and reached her heart, where Kratos drew her power and, driving the Blade of Olympus through Zeus, ran it into Gaia's heart. Her heart exploded and she collapsed into dust, leaving only chunks of earth and withered branches.
Frequently asked questions
- Who is Gaia in God of War?
- Gaia was the Primordial Goddess of the Earth, mother of the Titans and grandmother and great-grandmother of the Olympian gods. The Earth itself given form, she watched over the whole of Greek history and narrated the rise and fall of Kratos.
- How did Gaia help raise Zeus?
- When Cronos swallowed each of his offspring at birth to avoid being overthrown, his wife Rhea tricked him into swallowing a stone in place of the infant Zeus, who was raised in secret within Gaia herself. When Zeus came of age he freed his siblings and waged the first great war against the Titans.
- Why did Gaia ally with Kratos?
- Gaia nursed a long hatred for Olympus after her children were cast down, and she watched over Kratos his whole life, waiting for the moment the Olympians would discard him. After Zeus betrayed Kratos, she revealed herself, healed him, and guided him to the Sisters of Fate so he could take his revenge.
- How did Gaia betray Kratos?
- When Zeus struck them both down with a thunderbolt and Gaia clung to the mountain by her vines, Kratos begged for aid. She refused, calling him a spent pawn who had outlived his use, and let him fall, declaring that the war was for the Titans.
- How did Gaia die in God of War?
- Gaia returned during Kratos's final battle with Zeus, declaring she would destroy them both for the harm done to her Earth. Father and son fell into her body and reached her heart, where Kratos drew her power and drove the Blade of Olympus through Zeus and into Gaia's heart, causing it to explode and leaving her to collapse into dust.
Gallery
Images via God of War Wiki
Sources
- WikiGaia — God of War Wiki entry
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Related entries
Atlas
Atlas was the four-armed General of the Titans, strongest of his kind, who hurled mountains in the great war. Condemned by Kratos to bear the world atop the Pillar of the World, he later aided the same Spartan against Zeus.
Cronos
Cronos was the Titan of Time and Harvest, last and mightiest of the Titans born to Gaia and Ouranos. He overthrew his own father, was overthrown by his son Zeus, and was condemned to bear Pandora's Temple before dying at the hands of Kratos.
Hyperion
Hyperion was the Titan of the Sun and Light, eldest and wisest of the sons of Ouranos, who first bore the Power of the Sun before his son Helios. He fell with his kind in the great war, and the gates that bear his name still cross the world.
Olympians
The Olympians were the third and final generation of gods to rule over Greece, led by Zeus after they overthrew the Titans in the Titanomachy. First the allies of Kratos and then his enemies, they were slain almost to the last across his years of vengeance, their fall bringing ruin upon all of Greece.
Ouranos
Ouranos was the primordial god of the sky and the first true ruler of all creation, who shaped the heavens and fathered the Titans with Gaia. His tyranny and his banishment of his monstrous children led his son Cronos to castrate and overthrow him.
Poseidon
Poseidon was the Olympian God of the Seas and the brother of Zeus and Hades, his power second only to the King of Olympus. He helped subdue the Titans in the Great War and stood among the defenders of Olympus, until Kratos gouged out his eyes and broke his neck, drowning Greece beneath his death.
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Adrasteia: the griffin who raised Zeus
Adrasteia was a nymph in the service of Gaia who, with her sisters, hid and raised the infant Zeus beyond the reach of Cronos. For shielding the child she was cursed into the shape of a griffin and imprisoned within Mount Taygetos, until Kratos and Deimos set her free.
Athena
Athena was the Olympian Goddess of Wisdom, patron of Athens and chief ally of Kratos through his quests against Ares. She sacrificed herself to save Zeus, ascended beyond the Gods, and in the end turned against the very Spartan she had guided when she sought the power of Hope for herself.
Athens
Athens was the great Greek city of the goddess Athena, a hub of culture and worship. When Ares laid siege to it, Kratos was sent to save the city, a quest that ended with his slaying of Ares and his rise as the new God of War.
Blade of Olympus
The Blade of Olympus was the sword Zeus forged from the heavens and the earth to banish the Titans to Tartarus and end the Great War. Capable of slaying gods and Titans alike, it later held the godly power of Kratos and became one of the most powerful weapons in the world.
Calliope
Calliope was the beloved daughter of Kratos and Lysandra, a gentle and innocent child of Sparta. Killed by her father during a frenzy contrived by Ares, she found rest in the Elysium Fields, only for Kratos to be forced to abandon her there to save the world.
Clotho
Clotho was the youngest of the three Sisters of Fate, the spinner who began each life and decided who would be born. Dwelling in the Loom Chamber of the Palace of the Fates, she warned Kratos against tampering with destiny, and when he defied her she became the only sister he killed in the flesh.
Cronos
Cronos was the Titan of Time and Harvest, last and mightiest of the Titans born to Gaia and Ouranos. He overthrew his own father, was overthrown by his son Zeus, and was condemned to bear Pandora's Temple before dying at the hands of Kratos.
Cyclopes: the one-eyed giants of Greece
The Cyclopes were a race of burly, one-eyed giants of the Greek world. Once peaceful shepherds and master craftsmen, they were banished underground, freed by Zeus to fight in the Great War, and bred thereafter as beasts of war.
Deimos
Deimos was the younger brother of Kratos, a Spartan demigod son of Zeus seized as a child to thwart a prophecy of Olympus' fall. After years of torment in the Domain of Death he was freed by his brother, only to be killed by Thanatos, a loss that set Kratos against the gods forever.
Epimetheus
Epimetheus was a Titan of Hindsight and Afterthought, cast down to Tartarus after the Great War. He marched on Mount Olympus during the second Titanomachy and was slain by Poseidon.
Flame of Olympus
The Flame of Olympus was an absolute power, mightier than the gods themselves and lethal to any who touched it. Within it Pandora's Box was hidden, and only by extinguishing the flame could the King of the Gods be made to fall.
Greek Gods
The Greek Gods were the pantheon that ruled over Greece across three generations, the Primordials, the Titans, and the Olympians. Once the masters of mortals, monsters, and the natural world, they were brought to near extinction by Kratos in his war of vengeance against Olympus.
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