Petros: the Krypteia of Sparta

Petros, known to nearly everyone only as the Krypteia, was a Spartan special operative who moved alone and unseen through the Laconian lands in the service of causes deemed vital to Sparta. He crossed the path of the young Kratos and his brother Deimos on Mount Taygetos and gave them both his knives and his uncompromising counsel on what it meant to wage war.

The lone operative#

The Krypteia were operatives who patrolled the Laconian lands in service of covert causes deemed vital to Spartan interests. Where most Spartan training stressed the unit and the phalanx, the Krypteia worked alone, and most often unseen. They were a rare sort to befriend, seldom in a position to be forthcoming, but one willing to offer counsel was certain to hold an unconventional view of the world.

Petros was one such operative. He carried throwing knives and moved through the wilderness of Laconia unnoticed, observing far more than he was seen.

Meeting Kratos and Deimos#

While Kratos and Deimos searched the slopes of Mount Taygetos for a missing boy, they found a man waiting. Deimos asked whether he was following them, and Kratos recognized him at once as the Krypteia. The operative admitted he had watched them defeat a cyclops and a stymphalian bird, and knew of their search. When Kratos tried to deny it, the Krypteia told him not to lie, for it dishonored Kratos and insulted him. He made clear he was not the Agoge and would not judge them; a man had to make his own choices, but be prepared to live with the consequences. As he left, Kratos called after him that he had forgotten his knives, but the Krypteia answered that they were Kratos's knives now, for he would need them.

They met again in the Passage of Monuments, where Deimos repeated a rumor that only the Krypteia kept Sparta safe. The operative answered that keeping Sparta safe was every Spartan's duty, and that those who held an Eiren's pass were trusted both to survive and to know their duty when they saw it. To avoid a fight, he said, was a danger best left to someone less prepared.

The philosophy of war#

Over their further meetings the Krypteia laid out a hard creed. When Kratos spoke of watching over his brother, the Krypteia told him that every man beside him was his brother, and that to look out for only one was to weaken the whole; by shielding Deimos he would leave another soldier exposed. Kratos answered that Deimos was the only family he had besides his mother, but the Krypteia insisted Deimos was a soldier like the rest.

Pressed on his reputation for fighting more brutally than necessary, for burning villages and striking from the shadows, the Krypteia asked who decided what was necessary, and answered that an enemy must be taught that standing against Sparta invited annihilation. Fairness, he said, belonged to competition and trade, not to war. Battle was no contest or sport; there were no rules and no judges to ensure a fair fight, and the only goal was to survive, which could mean striking first, unseen, and leaving nothing behind but bodies.

When Kratos confided his worry that Deimos was not ready for the trial of the Artemis Cradle, the Krypteia counseled him to fix his focus on someone who meant something to him and to be strong for that person, for it would ease both their pain. To endure the Cradle, he added, was the mark of a true Spartan. At their last meeting Kratos admitted he was not sure he agreed with the operative, and the Krypteia said he was glad of it, for he would have been disappointed otherwise. They were young, he said, and still saw war as something to be shaped to their ideals, but one day each would have to choose to join the Spartan army or to walk alone and do what must be done. Which path was better depended on the man, but whichever they took, they had to be able to live with the man they became.