Gaia: Mother Earth, betrayed by Kratos

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. (God of War (2005); God of War II; God of War III)

Is Gaia Zeus's grandmother?#

Yes. Gaia and Ouranos brought forth the Titans, among them Cronos, and Zeus is Cronos's son, which makes Gaia his grandmother. Zeus's own children among the Olympians are her great-grandchildren, and the infant Zeus was hidden and raised inside Gaia herself. (God of War II; God of War III)

Is Gaia a Titan?#

Not exactly. Gaia is a Primordial, the Earth given form and one of the first beings descended from Chaos. She is the mother of the Titans rather than one of them, though she fought at their side in both wars against Olympus. (Theogony; God of War II; God of War III)

Why did Gaia help Kratos, then betray him?#

She helped him because she wanted Olympus destroyed. After Zeus betrayed and killed Kratos, Gaia healed him and guided him to the Sisters of Fate so he could take his revenge. She betrayed him because she never saw him as more than a weapon: when Zeus's thunderbolt left them both hanging from Olympus, she refused to save him, called him a pawn who had outlived his use, and let him fall, saying the war was for the Titans. (God of War II; God of War III)

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 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. 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. (Theogony; Bibliotheca; God of War II)

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. (Theogony; God of War II)

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. The Earth itself couldn't be locked away, and the novelisation of God of War II has her live on as a spirit within it. In the myths she later brought forth the storm giant Typhon and the earth-born Giants in further failed attempts to depose the gods. (God of War II; God of War II (novel); Theogony; Bibliotheca)

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. (God of War II)

Reaching out to Titans such as Cronos, Atlas, and her son Typhon, Gaia rallied allies to Kratos's cause, though in the novelisation Typhon refused her. As Kratos journeyed across the Island of Creation, Gaia guided and encouraged him 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. (God of War II; God of War II (novel))

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. (God of War III)

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. 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. (God of War III)