Guardian Shield

The Guardian Shield was a retractable round shield mounted upon the gauntlet of Kratos, carried through his years in the Nine Realms. A gift from his wife Faye, it served him to parry, block, and turn aside the attacks of his enemies, and could be used in concert with the Leviathan Axe, the Blades of Chaos, and his own fists.

A gift from Faye#

The Guardian Shield was given to Kratos by his wife Faye on the anniversary of the night they first met. He wore it folded upon his left gauntlet, able to extend it into a round shield at will. Through his journeys across the Nine Realms it was his chief means of defense, used to parry and block the blows of his enemies, to absorb projectiles and redirect them back at those who loosed them, and to strike offensively in combination with the Leviathan Axe, the Blades of Chaos, and his bare hands.

The shield and the Golden Fleece#

The Guardian Shield took the place of the Golden Fleece, the relic Kratos had worn long before during his war on the gods of Greece and which had been destroyed by Zeus. Like the Fleece, the shield could deflect projectiles back at their source and let Kratos counterattack after a well-timed parry. It was the lesser of the two in one respect: where the Fleece had been able to absorb attacks of every kind, physical, ranged, and magical alike, the Guardian Shield could only redirect certain attacks before Kratos's defense was breached.

Shattered and restored#

In the war that came with the approach of Ragnarok, the Guardian Shield met its match. During a fight with Thor, the shield was struck by the hammer Mjolnir and shattered, rendered inoperable. The smiths Brok and Sindri took it to be repaired, and in the meantime Kratos took up other shields to defend himself. When the work was complete, Sindri returned the Guardian Shield to him before he set out to seek the Nornir.