Helios
God of the Sun
Helios was the God of the Sun and Guardian of Oaths, second only to the greatest Olympians in might. Once saved by Kratos from the Titan Atlas, he later fell to the same Spartan, who tore off his head and used it as a lantern through Olympus.
Helios was the God of the Sun and Guardian of Oaths, born a Titan yet welcomed into the Olympian pantheon as one of its most revered deities. Son of Hyperion and Theia, he drove the Sun Chariot across the sky each day and saw all that passed beneath it. Kratos twice crossed his path: first as the Spartan who rescued him from the Titan Atlas, and later as the destroyer who tore his head from his body during the war against Zeus. His death plunged Greece into darkness and storm.
Origins and the first war#
Helios was the son of the celestial Titans Hyperion and Theia and brother to Selene and Eos. His father was the Titan of the Sun and one of the mightiest Titans in Cronos's pantheon. During the first war between the gods and the Titans, Helios, with his sister Eos, betrayed his father and his king to fight alongside the Olympians, whether convinced by fate and prophecy or driven by a desire to take his father's place among the most worshipped gods. After the Titans were defeated and Hyperion was thrown into Tartarus, the primordial fire of the sun left the father and became one with the son.
God of the Sun#
Zeus welcomed the new Sun God into the pantheon as a major and honored deity. Each morning Helios began his journey on the Sun Chariot, banishing the primordial darkness of Nyx from the sky, and on his daily course nothing on Earth escaped his notice, not even the secrets of his fellow gods. During the reign of Olympus no god in Greece save Zeus himself was more revered for his life-giving light. His daughters Circe and Pasiphae were infamous witches, and many of his mortal offspring became kings and powerful mages.
The abduction by Atlas#
The goddess Persephone, bitter at being bound to the Underworld, ordered the Titan Atlas to tear Helios from the sky as part of a scheme to destroy the world. With the sun gone, the dream god Morpheus seized the mortal realm and cast the gods into slumber, and Atlas began to use Helios's captured power against the Pillar of the World. Before the plan could be completed, Kratos defeated Persephone and chained Atlas in the Pillar's place. During that battle the light radiating from the captive Helios was turned against Persephone to weaken her. Helios, grateful to be returned to the sky, showed pity for Kratos's sacrifices, though Athena overruled any further aid.
Death and the severed head#
When Kratos later turned against Olympus, Helios mounted his Sun Chariot to battle the rising Titans, hurling fire at Gaia and at the Titan Perses. Kratos used a ballista to damage the Chariot, sending Helios crashing into Perses, who crushed him and flung him far into the city. Gravely wounded and unable to lift himself, Helios was found by Kratos amid the ruins.
Pleading for his life, Helios reminded Kratos of the debt owed for his rescue from Atlas and tried to deceive him, claiming that bathing in the Flame of Olympus would grant its power. Kratos saw through the lie, trusting instead the warning of Hephaestus that the Flame killed all who touched it. With a final defiant gaze, Helios was seized by the head, his neck broken, and his head torn from his body. With his death, clouds blocked the sun and darkness, rain, and storms swept across Greece, and the loss of the sun ruined the crops and brought famine. Kratos carried the severed head onward, using it to blind enemies, light dark paths, and twice blind the Titan Cronos in battle.
Frequently asked questions
- Who is Helios in God of War?
- Helios was the God of the Sun and Guardian of Oaths, born a Titan yet welcomed into the Olympian pantheon as one of its most revered deities. Son of Hyperion and Theia, he drove the Sun Chariot across the sky each day and saw all that passed beneath it.
- How did Helios become a god of Olympus?
- During the first war between the gods and the Titans, Helios betrayed his father and his king to fight alongside the Olympians. After the Titans were defeated and Hyperion was thrown into Tartarus, the primordial fire of the sun passed to Helios, and Zeus welcomed him into the pantheon.
- How did Kratos first save Helios?
- Persephone ordered the Titan Atlas to tear Helios from the sky as part of a scheme to destroy the world, blacking out the sun so Morpheus could put the gods to sleep. Kratos defeated Persephone and chained Atlas in the Pillar of the World's place, returning Helios to the sky.
- How did Helios die in God of War 3?
- When Kratos turned against Olympus, Helios was crushed by the Titan Perses and flung into the city. Kratos found the wounded Sun God, saw through his lie about the Flame of Olympus, and tore his head from his body.
- What happened after Helios was killed?
- With Helios's death, clouds blocked the sun and darkness, rain, and storms swept across Greece, and the loss of the sun ruined the crops and brought famine. Kratos carried the severed head onward, using it to blind enemies, light dark paths, and twice blind the Titan Cronos in battle.
Gallery
Images via God of War Wiki
Sources
- WikiHelios — God of War Wiki entry
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Related entries
Athena
Athena was the Olympian Goddess of Wisdom, patron of Athens and chief ally of Kratos through his quests against Ares. She sacrificed herself to save Zeus, ascended beyond the Gods, and in the end turned against the very Spartan she had guided when she sought the power of Hope for herself.
Atlas
Atlas was the four-armed General of the Titans, strongest of his kind, who hurled mountains in the great war. Condemned by Kratos to bear the world atop the Pillar of the World, he later aided the same Spartan against Zeus.
Cronos
Cronos was the Titan of Time and Harvest, last and mightiest of the Titans born to Gaia and Ouranos. He overthrew his own father, was overthrown by his son Zeus, and was condemned to bear Pandora's Temple before dying at the hands of Kratos.
Gaia
Gaia was the Primordial Goddess of the Earth, mother of the Titans and grandmother of the Olympians. She raised the infant Zeus, mourned the fall of her children, and bound her fate to Kratos in a war of vengeance that ended with both betrayed.
Hephaestus
Hephaestus was the Craftsman of Olympus, the smith who forged Pandora's Box, the Blades of Chaos, and the Gauntlet of Zeus. Cast down to the Underworld and stripped of his standing, he died protecting his daughter Pandora from Kratos.
Hyperion
Hyperion was the Titan of the Sun and Light, eldest and wisest of the sons of Ouranos, who first bore the Power of the Sun before his son Helios. He fell with his kind in the great war, and the gates that bear his name still cross the world.
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Alrik
Alrik, the Barbarian King, was the leader of the Barbarian horde from the east and one of Kratos' oldest enemies. His assault drove Kratos to pledge his soul to Ares, beginning the Spartan's tragedy, and his hatred outlasted even death.
Aphrodite
Aphrodite was the Olympian Goddess of Love and Beauty, wife of the smith Hephaestus and one of the few deities to favor Kratos. She aided the Ghost of Sparta in Athens and remained in her chamber through the fall of Olympus.
Atlas
Atlas was the four-armed General of the Titans, strongest of his kind, who hurled mountains in the great war. Condemned by Kratos to bear the world atop the Pillar of the World, he later aided the same Spartan against Zeus.
Blades of Chaos
The Blades of Chaos were a pair of fire-imbued chained blades forged in the Underworld for Ares and bound to the arms of Kratos. They became the signature weapons of his Greek era and the symbol of the bloodshed that earned him the name Ghost of Sparta, returning years later in the Norse realms.
Boreas
Boreas was the Olympian God of the North Wind, Storms, and Winter, who led the Chariot of Helios across the sky as the Devouring One. Awakened by Kratos to find the captive Sun God, he lent his name and his frozen power to shrines, weapons, and beasts scattered across the snowbound reaches of Greece.
Calliope
Calliope was the beloved daughter of Kratos and Lysandra, a gentle and innocent child of Sparta. Killed by her father during a frenzy contrived by Ares, she found rest in the Elysium Fields, only for Kratos to be forced to abandon her there to save the world.
Chimera
The Chimera was a great three-natured monster, bearing the heads of a goat and a lion and a serpent for a tail. Loosed as a minion of Olympus, it breathed fire and venom against Kratos in the temples and ruins of Greece.
Colossus of Rhodes
The Colossus of Rhodes was a towering bronze statue of the sun god Helios that stood over the port of Rhodes. Animated by Zeus to destroy Kratos, it tore through the city in pursuit of the Spartan, and its fall left him a mortal once more.
Cyclops Berserker
The Cyclops Berserker was the largest and fiercest breed of Cyclops, a club-wielding giant often loosed upon the field by the Beast Lords who rode upon its shoulders. Kratos broke many of these brutes across Greece and faced them again in the trials of Valhalla.
Demeter
Demeter was the Olympian Goddess of the Harvest and Agriculture, a sister of Zeus and mother of Persephone. She held dominion over plants and grain, and her grief at the abduction of her daughter by Hades brought barren winter upon the earth.
Eos
Eos was the goddess of the dawn, sister of Helios and daughter of the Titan Hyperion. When her brother vanished and the world fell to endless sleep, she sent Kratos to find him, her own powers fading with the missing sun.
Flame of Olympus
The Flame of Olympus was an absolute power, mightier than the gods themselves and lethal to any who touched it. Within it Pandora's Box was hidden, and only by extinguishing the flame could the King of the Gods be made to fall.
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