Modi's Death

The death of Modi, younger son of Thor, came at the hands of Atreus upon the mountain of Midgard. Though a minor figure among the Aesir, his killing turned the wrath of the gods of Asgard upon Kratos and his son, and it left a wound on the boy's spirit that lingered long afterward. (God of War (2018))

Prelude#

After Baldur was defeated by the man he had been sent to hunt, Odin summoned Magni and Modi to aid their uncle. The brothers split from Baldur and tracked Kratos and Atreus to the frozen plain shattered by the falling hammer of the giant Thamur. There Magni confronted the pair and demanded their surrender, and when Kratos refused, a battle followed in which Kratos drove his axe into Magni's skull and killed him. Horrified at the death of a brother the two had believed could not die, Modi loosed several arrows and fled over the side of a cliff. (God of War (2018))

With Magni gone, Modi knew that the hammer Mjolnir would now pass to him by default, and that the Aesir would forever regard him as a joke. Refusing this fate, he ambushed Kratos and Atreus at Tyr's Temple, calling down lightning to disable them and electrocuting Kratos with his mace. When Atreus fell suddenly into a faint, Kratos seized his chance, overpowered Modi, and disarmed him, forcing the demigod to flee once more. Modi escaped to Asgard, where Thor beat him near to death for abandoning his brother. (God of War (2018))

The killing#

Broken in body and mind, Modi returned to the mountain of Midgard hoping to redeem himself, but he was too badly hurt to do anything. Kratos saw no reason to kill him. Atreus, in his hubris, thought otherwise. Believing himself a god who could do as he pleased, the boy wished to take revenge for the insults Modi had heaped upon his dead mother. With nothing left to lose, Modi spat one final vulgar insult at the memory of Faye, and the enraged Atreus stabbed him in the neck and kicked him into a chasm before Kratos could stop him. (God of War (2018))

Aftermath#

Kratos reprimanded his son for the killing, warning that his recklessness and arrogance would make him a target, and reminding him that the killing he had been taught was for defense alone and never for indulgence. When Atreus dismissed Modi as someone no one had cared for, Kratos warned darkly that there were consequences to killing gods, though he would not say how he knew. (God of War (2018))

As the last surviving son of Thor, Modi's death after Magni's earned both Kratos and Atreus the lasting hatred of the God of Thunder, who would one day come to their home to take revenge for all his slain sons, and of his wife Sif, who long refused to forgive the boy. Modi's mother held the same grudge until Ragnarok, when she saw at last how Odin had mistreated his own family and sent his grandsons to die. His sister Thrud claimed her family was better off without him, yet she was later seen gripping his shield in grief. (God of War (2018); God of War Ragnarök)

A lingering guilt#

Though the killing fed Atreus's arrogance for a time, it did not leave him. While he and Kratos were lost in Helheim, the boy was tormented by visions of his own cruelty, seeing again how he had cut Modi down and cast him callously into the abyss. In the end the guilt the death had planted helped turn Atreus toward humility and toward reconciliation with his father. (God of War (2018))