Pandora's Box: the vessel of Olympus's evils and the power of Hope

Pandora's Box was among the most consequential artifacts in the history of the Greek world, a vessel created to imprison the Evils born from the Titanomachy and, in secret, to hold the power of Hope set against them. It was sought, claimed, and opened by Kratos, whose use of it allowed a mortal to gain power enough to kill the gods. Its opening reshaped the fate of Olympus, corrupting Zeus and the other Olympians and setting in motion the long war between Kratos and the gods. (God of War (2005); God of War III)

Creation#

After the Titanomachy, the great war between the gods and Titans, the Evils that the conflict had created threatened both gods and mortals. Zeus ordered Hephaestus to forge a vessel to contain them. The smith god found that no mere metal could hold such power, and so he forged the Box out of a force greater than that of the gods themselves: the Flame of Olympus. The Flame was as lethal as it was beautiful, killing all who dared touch it, which made it a perfect safeguard for the Box. (God of War III)

To pacify the Flame, Hephaestus created a child from the Flame itself, a girl named Pandora. Fearing that Zeus would take her from him, Hephaestus deceived Zeus into believing that the safest hiding place for the Box was upon the back of the Titan Cronos, thereby concealing Pandora's true importance and condemning Cronos to a life of agony bearing the Box across the desert. (God of War III)

The temple and the first claiming#

The architect Pathos Verdes III was tasked with raising a temple to house the Box and to ensure that none could reach it. Over the years the architect descended into madness, and the puzzles of Pandora's Temple grew more vicious and elaborate. He eventually took his own life, leaving the temple unfinished. Many would-be heroes and treasure seekers perished in its traps. (God of War (2005))

Only Kratos succeeded in claiming the Box, seeking it so that he might gain the power to kill Ares. No sooner had he found it than it was carried off by Harpies, and Ares struck Kratos down. The God of War chained the Box to his wrist and threatened to loose its power upon Mount Olympus. Aided by a mysterious Grave Digger, Kratos returned from the Underworld, reclaimed the Box, and at last opened it. Drawing upon its power, he grew to the stature of a god and slew Ares with the Blade of the Gods. (God of War (2005))

The corruption of the gods#

The opening of the Box carried grave consequences that Kratos did not understand. The Evils of the Titanomachy escaped and infected the gods, magnifying their worst traits to all-consuming levels. Zeus fell prey to Fear and grew obsessed with the prophecy that foretold the fall of Olympus at mortal hands, which drove his campaign to destroy Kratos. Other Olympians, from Poseidon to Hades, were likewise swallowed by their own worst traits. The Norse god Tyr, gazing into the past long afterward, judged that the Evils latched onto those who already harbored such traits and multiplied them, and that with or without the Box every being held the capacity to act upon fear, hate, love, and hope. (God of War III; God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla)

The empty Box and the power of Hope#

Years later, Kratos sought the Box a final time to gain the strength to kill Zeus and bring down Olympus. He found it set within the Flame of Olympus and was told by Athena's astral form to seek out Pandora to calm the Fires. After much bloodshed Kratos dispelled the Flame, sacrificing Pandora in the act, only to find the Box empty. Zeus mocked the discovery as another failure. (God of War III)

In truth the Box was not empty of all things. Athena revealed that when Zeus had first gathered the Evils, she had placed within the Box the power of Hope to counter them. When Kratos first opened the Box to kill Ares, it was Hope that he had unknowingly drawn into himself, while the Evils escaped to corrupt the gods. That power had lain buried beneath his hatred, guilt, and grief. Only after confronting his past within his own mind, guided by the spirit of Pandora, was Kratos able to free Hope and use it to destroy Zeus at last. When Athena demanded the power for herself, Kratos instead impaled himself on the Blade of Olympus and released Hope to the mortals of Greece, allowing the survivors to rebuild without the gods. (God of War III)

Powers#

According to Athena and Hephaestus, the Box contained the Evils of the world, born in the wake of the Titanomachy, potent enough to destroy both mortals and gods if left unchecked. Beyond holding these Evils, the Box granted divine power to whoever opened it. Kratos gained the size and strength of a god after opening it, which allowed him to meet and kill gods in battle, though it was Olympian-forged weapons such as the Blade of Olympus and the Blade of the Gods that delivered the killing blows. The Box was, alongside such weapons, among the only known means by which a mortal could slay a god. (God of War (2005); God of War III)