God of War III Story and Ending Explained: Plot Summary

God of War III came out in March 2010 on the PlayStation 3, made by Santa Monica Studio. It closes the Greek saga that began with God of War (2005), picking up the moment God of War II ends, as Kratos's war on the gods reaches Mount Olympus, and finishing with the Greek world in ruins. In story order it is the last Greek game, and the next chapter is God of War (2018), set in the north many years later. This page has full spoilers for the whole game, ending included. (God of War III)

Before the story begins#

Kratos had been a Spartan general who swore himself to Ares, was tricked into killing his wife and daughter, and then served the gods for ten years to be rid of the nightmares. He killed Ares with the power of Pandora's Box and took his place as God of War. (God of War (2005))

Zeus turned on him. In God of War II he drained Kratos's power into the Blade of Olympus and killed him. Gaia pulled Kratos back from the dead, and he used the Sisters of Fate to return to the moment of his death. When he moved to kill Zeus, Athena threw herself in the way and died, telling him that Zeus was his father. Kratos then reached back into the past and brought the Titans forward to his own time to finish the war they had lost. God of War III starts on the side of Olympus a moment later. (God of War II)

The assault on Olympus#

The Second Titanomachy opened with the Titans climbing the mountain and Kratos riding on Gaia's back. The gods came down to meet them. Poseidon killed the Titan Epimetheus and set great sea beasts on Gaia. Kratos cut his way into the creatures, dragged Poseidon out of the water, beat him, put out his eyes and broke his neck. With the sea god dead, the oceans rose and flooded Greece. (God of War III)

Kratos reached Zeus near the top, and Zeus blasted him and Gaia off the peak with a bolt of lightning. Kratos clung to Gaia and begged for help. She told him he had only ever been her pawn and let him fall. (God of War III)

The Underworld and Hades#

Kratos fell into the River Styx, which stripped him of his power and ruined the Blades of Athena. Athena's spirit met him on the shore. She said her death had lifted her to a higher existence, that she now saw a truth she had missed, and that Zeus drew his power from the Flame of Olympus. She reforged his weapons as the Blades of Exile and told him that while Zeus ruled, there was no hope for mankind. (God of War III)

Fighting through the Underworld, Kratos took the Bow of Apollo from Peirithous. Through a statue, a girl called out to him as "father", and for a moment he took her for his daughter Calliope. She was Pandora, and she asked him to free her. He ignored her. (God of War III)

Hades wanted revenge for Persephone, Poseidon and Athena. Kratos broke his helmet, took the Claws of Hades from him and ripped out his soul, killing him. With Hades gone, the souls of the dead ran loose. (God of War III)

Helios, Hermes, Hercules and Hera#

A gate took Kratos back up to the slopes of Olympus. He found Gaia still climbing, crippled, and asking for help. Kratos cut through her arm with the Blade of Olympus and left her to fall. He killed the Titan Perses, then brought Helios down out of the sky. The sun god tried to blind him, and Kratos tore off his head. Darkness fell over Greece, and Kratos used the glowing Head of Helios as a lantern. (God of War III)

Hermes mocked him the whole way to the top. In the chamber of the Flame, Kratos found Pandora's Box, the same one he had used against Ares. Athena explained that Zeus had sealed the evils of the Great War inside it, that those evils had entered Kratos when he opened it, and that a greater power still waited inside. Only Pandora could get through the Flame. Kratos then caught Hermes, cut off his legs and took his Boots of Hermes. A plague spread across Greece. (God of War III)

Hera, drunk and bitter, sent Hercules after him. His half-brother wanted the title of God of War and resented that Zeus had always favoured Kratos. Kratos took his Nemean Cestus and beat his face in. (God of War III)

Cronos, Hephaestus and the Labyrinth#

Aphrodite pointed Kratos to her husband Hephaestus in his forge. He had built both the Box and Pandora, the only key to the Flame, and he loved her as a daughter. He begged Kratos to leave Pandora alone, then sent him into Tartarus to fetch the Omphalos Stone, hoping he would not come back. The Titan Cronos blamed Kratos for Gaia's fall and swallowed him. Kratos found the stone in the Titan's stomach, cut his way out and stabbed Cronos through the head. Hephaestus forged the stone into the Nemesis Whip, then tried to kill Kratos to save his daughter, who was locked in the Labyrinth. Kratos killed him. (God of War III)

In the gardens of Olympus, Hera insulted Pandora, and Kratos snapped her neck. The plants of the world died with her. In the Labyrinth he found Daedalus, who had built it for Zeus on the promise of seeing his son Icarus again. Kratos told him Icarus was dead, then set the Labyrinth moving to reach Pandora's cage, and the machinery killed the old man. As they escaped together, Pandora started to remind Kratos of Calliope. He began to care about her. To raise the Labyrinth up to the Flame he broke the Chain of Balance in the Underworld. (God of War III)

Pandora, Zeus and the empty Box#

At the Flame, Pandora was ready to give her life. Kratos told her to stop and that he would find another way. Zeus arrived and fought him, and in the middle of it Zeus taunted Kratos about failing his family. Kratos let go of Pandora's hand to attack him. She walked into the Flame, and it went out. Kratos opened the Box. It was empty, and Zeus laughed at him. (God of War III)

The fight spilled out across the ruins of Olympus. Gaia, still alive, tried to crush them both, so father and son fought inside her body. Kratos stabbed Zeus and Gaia's heart with the same blade, killing her. On the peak, Zeus's spirit rose and drained Kratos almost to death. Inside his own mind, guided by Pandora's spirit, Kratos faced the spirits of Lysandra and Calliope and forgave himself. When he did, a power came out of him. He woke, pinned Zeus down and beat him to death. (God of War III)

The ending explained#

Zeus's death finished the job. Greece lay drowned, dark, sick and starving, its gods dead. Athena appeared, pleased with what he had done, and asked for the power from Pandora's Box. (God of War III)

Kratos told her the Box had been empty. That was when Athena worked it out. Long ago she had placed Hope in the Box as a guard against the evils sealed there. When Kratos first opened it to kill Ares, the evils escaped and infected the gods with fear, greed and hatred, which is why Zeus turned on him. The Hope went into Kratos instead, buried under his guilt. Only when he forgave himself in his own mind could he use it, and that is what killed Zeus. (God of War III; God of War (2005))

Athena wanted it back so she could rule as the new guide of a broken world. Kratos took the Blade of Olympus and drove it into his own body. The light poured out of him and spread across Greece, so the survivors would have something to live by without any god. Athena was angry, and told him she was disappointed in him. Kratos only laughed. She pulled the blade out and left empty-handed. (God of War III)

What it means. The ending is Kratos turning down the last offer of power any god ever made him. For three games he had let gods use him, and here the one who had helped most turned out to want the same thing as the rest. He gave Hope to people instead. It is also an attempt to die, and the first selfless thing he does in the series. (God of War III)

The blood trail. After the credits, the camera returns to the cliff. Kratos's body is gone, and a trail of blood leads away from where he lay. The game says no more. It took eight years to get an answer: God of War (2018) shows an older Kratos alive in Midgard, with a scar across his stomach where the blade went in. (God of War III; God of War (2018))

What it leaves open. The game never says who or what was left alive in Greece, whether Athena survived in her higher form, or how Kratos got from the cliff to the north. The later games fill in only some of that. (God of War III; God of War (2018))

Where it fits#

God of War III is the end of the Greek era and the bridge to the Norse one. Ghost of Sparta came out later in 2010 but is set earlier, between the first game and God of War II. The next chapter in story order is God of War (2018), where Kratos has buried his past and is raising a son. For every game in order, see the God of War story explained and the full God of War timeline. (God of War III; God of War: Ghost of Sparta; God of War (2018))