Ogres

Ogres were a species of burly, brutal monsters of the Nine Realms, hulking brutes of great strength and little wit. They haunted the wild outskirts of Midgard and other realms, and Kratos and Atreus felled many of them on their long journey.

A brute of the Nine Realms#

The Ogre was a giant, monstrous creature, a hulking blend of gorilla, troll, and boar built for raw strength. It towered over a man, though it was shorter and more compact than the Trolls, and it moved hunched forward upon long and powerful arms with an animal's gait. Its face was flat and ape-like, set with small glowing eyes beneath a heavy brow, and great tusks jutted upward from its lower jaw. Many bore short horns or bony growths upon their skulls. Their hide was thick, leathery, and scarred, sometimes cracked like dried mud, and their coloring ran to earthy grays, browns, and reds. As Atreus recorded, the Ogre was giant, powerful, and angry, but thankfully not very clever, one of the ugliest beasts they faced, its long arms giving its blows great reach and its strikes against the ground strong enough to loose powerful shock-waves.

There were two kinds of Ogre. The common sort had greyish skin and fought chiefly with its huge arms. The Fierce Ogre was a more violent and erratic breed, marked by blood-red coloring and reptilian skin, and was reckoned more dangerous still.

Strength and savagery#

Ogres were among the most dangerous foes of the Norse lands, second only to the Trolls, and they were capable of a number of devastating attacks. They swung their massive arms, charged headlong at their foes, and smashed the ground to send out shock-waves that could come one upon another. If lesser creatures were near, an Ogre might seize one and hurl it. The Fierce Ogres could leap great distances to fall upon a foe from above, and the most powerful Ogres could grab a man and smash him into the earth. Yet their strength could be turned against them, for once an Ogre was stunned it could be mounted and ridden, driven for a time to smash into the other creatures around it, and when it was weakened enough it could be pulled to the ground and slain by cleaving its skull.

In the wild and in war#

Ogres dwelt in various outskirts of Midgard and elsewhere, and whenever mortals chanced upon them they were met with savage aggression. Their hunger was carnivorous, and they were seen feeding upon the corpses of men. The first Ogre that Kratos and Atreus met burst from a gate in the mountains and warned them to turn back, the only one of its kind ever to speak in its own tongue. Atreus stabbed the beast through the eyes, setting it to a pained fury, and after a hard fight the two gods brought it down by Kratos' hand.

In the war of Ragnarök the Ogres were pressed into the service of Odin. Two of them stood among the All-Father's army in Asgard, where they were at last pinned down by the great celestial wolves. In Vanaheim, as Kratos made ready to finish a fallen Ogre, the creature known as the Corpse Eater stole the kill, carrying the beast away to devour it.