Golden Fleece

The Golden Fleece was a powerful relic that had once belonged to Jason, leader of the Argonauts, before it came into the possession of Kratos. Worn as a golden armlet, it granted its bearer the power to turn aside and reflect the attacks of enemies, and it served Kratos through his campaign against the gods of Olympus.

Origin of the relic#

The Golden Fleece was a holy relic made in honor of Zeus. It had begun as the literal fleece of a winged ram, a creature capable of reason and speech that Hermes had gifted to the twins Phrixus and Helle so that they might escape their stepmother. Helle fell to her death during the crossing, but Phrixus reached the city of Colchis and the court of King Aeetes, offering the ram in gratitude for the king's hospitality. The king slaughtered the ram in tribute to Zeus and kept its fleece, which became a powerful and valuable artifact placed under the guardianship of the Colchian dragon.

The hero Jason and his Argonauts came to Colchis to claim the fabled fleece. After facing challenges set by the king, Jason succeeded only with the treacherous aid of the king's daughter, the enchantress Medea.

Claimed by Kratos#

Long after, the Golden Fleece came into the hands of Kratos. He took it after defeating the Mole Cerberus that had partly devoured Jason. Though described in many accounts as an armlet, the Fleece was in fact several plates of armor worn along the shoulder, bicep, and forearm. When its power was called upon, it surrounded its bearer in a golden aura.

Power#

With the Golden Fleece, Kratos could block and counter the attacks of his enemies, and could absorb enemy projectiles to hurl them back at his attackers. It was especially effective against the Gorgons: if one loosed its stone stare and Kratos deflected it, every foe in sight, including the Gorgon itself, was turned to stone. The Fleece was also said to drain creatures of their magical power, as it did to the priests of the Fates, leaving them powerless after a single parry, though this had no effect on deities, demigods such as Perseus, or the greater Gorgons.

Kratos used the Fleece to solve the trials of the Island of Creation, often by reflecting the beams cast by statues that barred his path, and he relied on it against the magic and projectiles of many powerful foes. It proved capable of turning aside even a strike from the Blade of Olympus.

End#

The Golden Fleece survived Kratos's passage through the River Styx, though it lost much of its strength, its power having become bound to the strength of his blades. In the end it was destroyed, along with most of Kratos's other arms and armor, when the astral form of Zeus launched a surprise attack upon the Ghost of Sparta during their final confrontation. In the years that followed, its role as Kratos's defense would be taken up by the Guardian Shield of the Norse realms.