Pandora: the living key to Pandora's Box

Pandora, whose name meant "all gifts," was the living key and adoptive daughter of the smith god Hephaestus, crafted by his hand to unseal the mythical Pandora's Box. Sheltered from Zeus in her youth and later imprisoned within the Labyrinth, she was freed by Kratos and ultimately gave her life in the Flame of Olympus so that the power of Hope might be loosed against the tyranny of the gods. (God of War III; Hesiod, Works and Days)

Creation and imprisonment#

Pandora was crafted by the smith god Hephaestus to serve as the key to Pandora's Box, said to hold the power to end the world. She was an object neither living nor dead, yet Hephaestus grew fond of her and considered her his daughter, sheltering her from Zeus and suggesting the Titan Cronos as the perfect guardian for the Box, since no mortal could best a Titan. After Kratos used the Box to defeat Ares, Zeus came to fear its power and tortured Hephaestus until he revealed Pandora's whereabouts. Zeus then hid the Box within the Flame of Olympus so that only Pandora could unseal it, took her prisoner, and had Daedalus build a Labyrinth to hold her, much as Daedalus had built one for the Minotaur in the old legend. (God of War III)

The journey to the Flame#

Pandora was able to reach Kratos through bronze statues fashioned in her likeness, appearing within a small blue flame in their hands, and she appeared to him several times to beg for her freedom and hint at her location. Within the Labyrinth Kratos at last found her trapped at its very core. She guided him along its shifting cubes and through grates too small for him to pass, while he in turn saved her from its traps and defended her from monsters. As they traveled she spoke of how fear consumed the gods, a fear of her and of the Marked Warrior, and confessed how she hated herself for having seen Hephaestus tortured on her account. Kratos told her that Hephaestus had done what every father should and protected his child. When her fear rose, she said, it was replaced by hope, and though Kratos held that hope was for the weak, she insisted it was what everyone clung to when all else was lost. (God of War III)

Sacrifice#

Kratos brought Pandora at last to the Flame of Olympus, destroying much of the Chamber of the Flame in the process. He could not bring himself to use her to unseal the Box, and tried to stop her by vowing to find another way, even as she stood willing to sacrifice herself. Zeus then appeared, and as the two battled, Kratos buried the King of Olympus beneath rubble and seized Pandora's hand to keep her from the Flame. Zeus demanded he hold on; Pandora demanded he let go. In the end Kratos' hatred of Zeus overcame his desire to protect her, and as he lashed out at his father he released her arm, and Pandora vanished into the Flame. Her sacrifice extinguished the fire, and Kratos found the Box empty. (God of War III)

Yet her spirit endured. When Zeus' spirit later trapped Kratos in chaos and darkness, Pandora appeared to him as a ball of flame and guided him free, and through her he unlocked the power of Hope sealed within his own soul, with which he finally destroyed Zeus. (God of War III)

Nature and bond with Kratos#

Though a construct, Pandora was a person in her own right: innocent, fearful, yet selfless and stubbornly hopeful. She showed no fear of Kratos despite his reputation, cared for him, and was incensed when he dismissed her as a child. She appeared as a young girl. (God of War III)

She reminded Kratos powerfully of his own daughter Calliope; when he first heard her voice he mistook it for his daughter's. At first he saw her as no more than a tool in his revenge, but after Hera crudely insulted her, his anger flared and he killed the goddess. Repeatedly calling Pandora "child," he came to look on her almost as his own, and could not bear to lose her as he had lost his family. Zeus warned him not to confuse her with his own flesh and blood, but it was too late. Long afterward, in the Norse afterlife of Valhalla, Kratos recounted her tale to Mimir and Tyr, naming her where Tyr knew her only as the blacksmith's daughter, and saying that she had been innocent and had deserved better than to be a pawn sacrificed in a game played by gods. (God of War III; God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla)