Heimdall

Heimdall, also known as Heimdall Odinson and famed as the Watchman of the Aesir, the Bearer of Gjallarhorn, and the Herald of Ragnarok, was the Norse God of Foresight, Surveillance, and Foreknowledge. A son of Odin and the Nine Daughters of AEgir and Ran, he was the younger half-brother of Thor and Tyr, the older half-brother of Baldur, and the uncle of Magni, Modi, Forseti, and Thrud. His unparalleled senses and his fanatical devotion to the All-Father made him the perfect henchman, untouchable in battle until he met Kratos.

The watchman of Asgard#

Heimdall was born to Odin and the Nine Daughters of AEgir and Ran, and grew up in Asgard a loyal and devoted servant of his father. Convinced early of the natural superiority of the Aesir, he waged Odin's wars with genuine pleasure and accumulated honors and wealth, gifted the legendary sword Hofud by Asgardian master smiths. He personally branded the dwarf Durlin for leading a rebellion in Svartalfheim, and he tamed a powerful Gradungr that he named Gulltoppr to serve as his mount.

His destiny changed the day Odin entrusted him with the Gjallarhorn, the horn he was to sound when the giants assaulted Asgard, bringing forth Ragnarok. Heimdall's gifts of foresight allowed him to read minds and anticipate any attack, making him untouchable; according to Mimir and Sindri, he had never once been harmed or lost a fight. This invaluable position only deepened his arrogance and his fanatical loyalty to the All-Father, whom alone among all beings he respected.

Cruelty and rivalry#

Heimdall held nearly everyone in contempt, for his ability to see into the minds of others showed him their worst. He bullied his niece Thrud, mocked her dream of becoming a Valkyrie, and insulted her father Thor. When Atreus arrived in Asgard under Odin's protection, Heimdall instantly distrusted him and tried to throw him from the wall, then humiliated him before the Great Lodge until Thor intervened. His hatred of Atreus grew from jealousy, as the All-Father favored the boy while ignoring Heimdall's warnings that Atreus was a threat.

Sent with Atreus and Thrud on a mission to Helheim, Heimdall seized on their accidental freeing of the wolf Garm to torment them, insulting Atreus as a "half-breed" and provoking Thrud. His delight at reporting their failure to Odin showed both his sadism and his cowardice, for he never dared act so freely with Thor nearby. Odin himself noted that Heimdall's powers of perception were dangerously unbalanced by his inability to think things through.

The duel with Kratos#

After the Norns revealed that Heimdall intended to kill Atreus, Kratos set out to stop him. The dwarf Brok had deduced that Heimdall's foresight could be bypassed by overwhelming his senses with multiple targets at once, and so a god-killing weapon was forged from the self-multiplying ring Draupnir, with Heimdall as its intended prey.

In Vanaheim, Heimdall ambushed Kratos and Freya, confident his intuition would win the fight. After Kratos slew his mount Gulltoppr, Heimdall faced him directly, dodging and mocking the Spartan while relying on his mastery of the Bifrost. But he could not foresee the trick of the Draupnir Spear, and on the third attempt Kratos landed the first blow Heimdall had ever felt in his life. Astonished, the god grew angrier, and as his rage mounted his foresight failed him, allowing Kratos to strike him again and again. When Kratos finally pinned him and blew apart his arm, Heimdall screamed in pain he had never known and begged him to stop.

Last stand and death#

Kratos ceased his assault and urged Heimdall to walk away, but the god's pride would not allow him to accept mercy. Accusing Kratos of sparing him out of pity, Heimdall conjured a new arm from Bifrost energy and renewed the attack, throwing wild, untrained blows and swearing to beat Atreus to death. His repeated threats against the boy drove Kratos past his restraint. Knocking Heimdall down and smashing his head into the ground, Kratos strangled the Herald of Ragnarok to death, in spite of Mimir's pleas for reason. In his final moments Heimdall looked into his enemy's eyes and understood too late what he had unleashed.

Heimdall's death shook Kratos, who realized he had proven the Norns' prophecy true by unleashing the Ghost of Sparta. The death deprived Asgard of one of its most valuable assets, for the Bearer of Gjallarhorn was meant to sound the horn at Ragnarok; instead Kratos took the horn, and his allies would blow it to bring Asgard's doom sooner than prophesied. Heimdall's corpse was later found by his nephew Forseti, whose evidence that Kratos was responsible fueled Sif's hatred and helped set the Aesir against Kratos and Atreus.