Kratos

Kratos, known in the Norse lands as Farbauti, was the demigod son of Zeus and the mortal Callisto, born in Sparta. Once the brutal captain of the Spartan army and later the Greek God of War, he destroyed the pantheon of Olympus in his rage before leaving Greece behind. In the Norse realms he sought to live as a man and a father, raising his son Atreus with the Jotunn Faye, until events drew him into the war that would topple Asgard. (God of War: Ghost of Sparta; God of War III; God of War (2018))

A Spartan son of Zeus#

Kratos was born in Sparta, the demigod son of Zeus and a mortal woman named Callisto, though he spent most of his life unaware of his divine father. He grew up trained for war alongside his younger brother Deimos, who was also a demigod. When prophecy warned Zeus of a marked warrior who would bring about his downfall, the King of the Gods sent Ares to take Deimos, who bore strange markings. Kratos tried to save his brother and was struck down, left with a scar across his eye and a hatred he would carry for years. His name comes from the Greek god of strength, and the Kratos of real Greek myth was a very different figure. (God of War: Ghost of Sparta)

In time Kratos became a respected warrior, married Lysandra, and fathered a daughter, Calliope. In the 2010 comic series, when the girl fell ill and Spartan law condemned her, he sought out the healing Ambrosia, a quest that doubled as a contest among the gods. He prevailed, saved his daughter, and was named a captain. Under his command served a young soldier named Atreus, who alone among the Spartans kept his joy even in battle; when the soldier died, Kratos bore him home and buried him with full honors, a memory he would one day pass to his own son. (God of War (2010 comic); God of War Ragnarök)

The Ghost of Sparta#

As a Spartan general, Kratos won battle after battle through brutal tactics, his pride swelling with each victory. When his army was overwhelmed by the Barbarian tribes led by his old enemy Alrik, Kratos pledged himself to Ares, the God of War, in exchange for his life. Ares accepted, slaughtered the Barbarians, and bound the Blades of Chaos to his arms as the mark of his servitude. Kratos served Ares for a time, raiding and slaughtering in his name and losing what humanity he had. The blades became the best known of the many weapons Kratos would carry in Greece and later the north. (God of War (2005))

During one raid on a village of Athena's followers, Ares secretly placed Lysandra and Calliope in the temple. In his blind rage Kratos cut down everyone inside, including his wife and child, before he realized what he had done. The village oracle cursed him to wear their ashes upon his skin forever, and from that day his skin was pale as the moon and he was known as the Ghost of Sparta. Tormented by the memory, he renounced Ares and sought escape from his nightmares. (God of War (2005))

The fall of Olympus#

For ten years Kratos served the other gods of Olympus, enduring their labors in the hope they would lift his torment. At last he confronted and killed Ares, claiming the vacant throne of the God of War. But godhood brought him no peace, and when Zeus betrayed and tried to kill him, Kratos turned against Olympus entirely. He learned that Zeus was his father, that Deimos had died, and that the gods had used him; his vengeance consumed everything. (God of War (2005); God of War II; God of War: Ghost of Sparta)

In a long war against the divine, Kratos slew Olympian after Olympian and toppled the Titans who had aided and then betrayed him. He killed his own father, Zeus, and in doing so unleashed devastation upon all of Greece. Yet through the bond he formed with Pandora, whom he came to love as a daughter, Kratos was inspired to release the power of Hope to mortals, a final act that ran counter to the vengeance that had defined him. With the pantheon destroyed and his home in ruins, Kratos left Greece behind. His Greek years were told across several games released out of sequence, which the God of War games in order page untangles. (God of War III)

A new life in Midgard#

Kratos wandered far from Greece, passing through distant lands before he came to Midgard and the realms of the Norse gods. Ashamed of his past, he set himself to grow beyond his self-destructive rage and to live quietly as a man. There he met Faye, a warrior he first met in a fight; in time the two fell in love. They built a home in the Wildwoods, where Kratos confided his history and hid the Blades of Chaos beneath the floorboards. Faye bore him a son, and at her urging he kept his godhood and his past secret from the boy. When Faye died, Kratos and Atreus set out to honor her last wish, to scatter her ashes from the highest peak of the Nine Realms. (God of War (2018); God of War Ragnarök)

The journey with his son#

The journey to the peak became far more than a funeral rite. Pursued by the Aesir Baldur, Kratos and Atreus freed the bound god Mimir, summoned the World Serpent, met the dwarves Brok and Sindri, and learned that the true highest peak lay in Jotunheim. Kratos struggled to guide a son whose emerging godhood made him arrogant and reckless, fearing he would repeat his own past. When Baldur threatened to kill his mother Freya, Kratos, hoping to end the cycle of children slaying their parents, broke the Aesir's neck. (God of War (2018))

In Jotunheim, the murals revealed that Faye had been a Giant and that Atreus was part Jotunn, named Loki in prophecy. Kratos at last confessed his own history to his son and resolved that they would learn to be better than the gods they had known. He returned home knowing that Baldur's death had triggered Fimbulwinter, the long winter before Ragnarok. (God of War (2018))

Ragnarok#

Three years into the winter, Thor and then Odin came to Kratos' door, offering peace in exchange for an end to Atreus' searching. Kratos refused, fought Thor to a brutal draw, and was drawn step by step into the war he had hoped to avoid. He reconciled with Freya, freed her from Odin's curse, consulted the Norns, and learned that he was fated to die, that no fate was fixed, and that Heimdall meant to kill his son. To protect Atreus, Kratos hunted and killed Heimdall with the Draupnir Spear, and gathered allies across the realms. (God of War Ragnarök)

When Odin, disguised as Tyr, murdered Brok, the loss drove Kratos and Freya to commit fully to Ragnarok. Named General of the Nine Realms, Kratos led the assault on Asgard, defeated Thor in single combat and spared him, and with Atreus and Freya overcame Odin. As Asgard fell to Surtr's fire, Kratos and his companions escaped through Fenrir's portal. (God of War Ragnarök)

Acceptance and the road ahead#

After the war, Atreus told his father that he meant to travel alone to seek the remaining Giants. Though it grieved him, Kratos embraced his son and gave his blessing, proud that the boy had become a man who no longer needed him. Behind Faye's shrine he discovered one of his own, a prophecy foretelling that he would not die by Thor's hand but would instead survive to become the beloved Allfather of the Nine Realms. Moved to tears, Kratos turned to the work of rebuilding the realms alongside Mimir and Freya. (God of War Ragnarök)

In time, drawn to the trials of Valhalla, Kratos confronted the full weight of his Greek past, the memories of Helios, Pandora, and his vengeance, guided by Tyr toward a hard-won inner peace. He came to terms at last with his rage and chose to be more than a God of War. Taking up that mantle once more, he resolved also to become a God of Hope, joining Freya's council and moving beyond the life of revenge that had defined him for so long. Most of the people who shaped his two lives, friends and enemies alike, appear in our list of God of War characters. (God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla)