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Pathos Verdes III

The Mad Architect of Pandora's Temple

Pathos Verdes III was the mortal architect chosen by the Olympian gods to raise Pandora's Temple upon the back of the bound Titan Cronos. Driven mad by grief and zeal, he turned the temple into a maze of lethal traps before taking his own life and cursing the gods he had served.

By Bron

Pathos Verdes III was the mortal architect chosen by the Olympian gods to build Pandora's Temple, the vast structure raised to contain Pandora's Box. A zealot devoted to Olympus, he gave his life and his family to the work, and the temple became a monument to the madness that consumed him before he died cursing the very gods he had served. (God of War (2005))

Servant of the gods#

Pathos Verdes III was a fervent worshipper of Olympus with a wife and two sons. The gods appeared before him and charged him with a single task: to build a temple worthy of housing Pandora's Box, the most powerful weapon a mortal could wield. Loyal without question, he accepted the commission and set to drawing his plans. (God of War (2005))

Building upon Cronos#

To raise so great a structure, the gods themselves intervened. With their aid, along with that of Pegasi and their riders, the Titan Cronos was subdued, and Pathos began to build the temple upon the Titan's back. His earliest designs were straightforward, but as the work wore on they grew steadily more intricate and dangerous. (God of War (2005))

Descent into madness#

The architect's mind broke under grief. While the temple was still rising, his younger son died, and soon after the elder followed. Their deaths shattered his faith and his reason. He began to incorporate his dead sons' bodies into the temple's traps, and the snares he devised grew crueler and more elaborate as his madness deepened. Heroes who entered the temple in those years met their deaths in his designs. (God of War (2005))

The unraveling reached his own hearth. The use of his sons' corpses brought him to a bitter quarrel with his wife, and in his rage he stabbed her through the chest and killed her. With his family gone, Pathos could not bring himself to continue. He took his own life within the temple, cursing the gods he had served so faithfully. (God of War (2005))

The Architect's Tomb#

Pandora's Temple grew more treacherous the deeper one travelled into it, a record in stone of the insanity that had overtaken its maker. The work was never wholly finished; unfinished sections remained near the heights of the Cliffs of Madness, suggesting Pathos had meant to extend the temple further still. When Kratos passed through in search of Pandora's Box, he came at last to the Architect's Tomb, where he found the bodies of Pathos and his wife together with the final message the architect had left before his death. (God of War (2005))

Frequently asked questions

Who was Pathos Verdes III in God of War?
Pathos Verdes III was the mortal architect commanded by the Olympian gods to build Pandora's Temple, the structure raised to house Pandora's Box. A zealous servant of Olympus, he descended into madness during the work and ultimately killed himself within the temple he had created.
Why did Pathos Verdes III go mad?
His descent began with the deaths of his two sons during the temple's construction. Grief and his desperate desire to please the gods unbalanced his mind, and he came to use his own sons' corpses in the temple's traps. In an argument he killed his wife as well, and unable to continue alone, he took his own life.
How does Pandora's Temple reflect its architect?
The temple's deadly traps and corridors grew steadily more elaborate and cruel the deeper they ran, mirroring the progression of Pathos Verdes III's insanity as he built it. Kratos found the architect's final message and the bodies of Pathos and his wife in the Architect's Tomb.

Sources

  • GameGod of War (2005), Santa Monica Studio, 2005

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