Rota
Chooser of the Slain
Rota was one of the nine Valkyries cursed by Odin and sealed within Helheim. Freed by Kratos and Atreus, she was reborn by Freya as a Shield Maiden and fought in the assault on Asgard during Ragnarok.
Rota's job was sorting the dead. With Gunnr and Skuld she judged who had earned Valhalla, which kept Hel from filling up with souls that did not belong there. Then Odin cursed the Valkyries into flesh, and the queen locked her inside Helheim, among the very dead she had spent her service redirecting. (God of War (2018); Prose Edda)
Chooser of the slain#
Rota did not gather the dead so much as adjudicate them. Together with Gunnr and Skuld she oversaw the judgment of the fallen, seeing that the worthy passed into Valhalla and that Hel was not left to overflow. (God of War (2018); Prose Edda)
Sealed in Helheim#
The curse bound all nine Valkyries into corporeal bodies, and the state was unnatural enough to drive them mad. Once Rota was too dangerous to leave free, the queen Sigrun put her in a hidden chamber inside Helheim, where the dishonoured dead were sent. Her helmet took the shape of a deer; the corruption paled her skin and gave her red wings plated in gold. She fought close and physical, grappling, crossing the chamber in a single lunge, dropping on an opponent from above. (God of War (2018))
Freed, and remade#
Kratos and Atreus reached the chamber and destroyed the body. Her spirit thanked them and left to rejoin her sisters. Freya restored her during Ragnarok through Vanir magic, in a body with its natural colouring, organic wings and finer armour than the curse had left her. She acknowledged Kratos as her general and joined the assault on Asgard. (God of War (2018); God of War Ragnarök)
Frequently asked questions
- Who is Rota in God of War?
- Rota, a Chooser of the Slain, was one of the nine Valkyries cursed by Odin to remain in a corporeal form until madness took her. After she grew too dangerous she was sealed away within Helheim, then later freed and reborn by Freya as a Shield Maiden.
- Why was Rota imprisoned in Helheim?
- Odin's curse bound Rota into a corporeal body, an unnatural state that slowly drove her toward madness. As her corruption made her too dangerous to roam free, the Valkyrie Queen Sigrun sealed her away in a hidden chamber within Helheim.
- How was Rota freed from her curse?
- Kratos and Atreus found her prison in Helheim and destroyed her physical form, freeing her trapped spirit. Released from the curse, she gave the two her eternal gratitude before her spirit vanished and rejoined her sisters.
- What did Rota do during Ragnarok?
- During Ragnarok, Rota was among the Valkyries that Freya reborn through Vanir magic in a pure new body, her skin restored and her metallic wings replaced with more organic, birdlike ones. As a Shield Maiden she acknowledged Kratos as her general and joined her freed sisters in the assault on Asgard.
- What was Rota's role as a Chooser of the Slain?
- In legend Rota was a Chooser of the Slain who, together with Gunnr and Skuld, oversaw the judgment of the fallen. They made certain that the worthy passed into Valhalla and that Hel did not overflow with souls.
Sources
- GameGod of War (2018), Santa Monica Studio, 2018
- GameGod of War Ragnarök, Santa Monica Studio, 2022
- BookProse Edda, Snorri Sturluson, around 1220 (Gylfaginning)
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
Followed from this entry
Atreus (Loki): Kratos's Son and the Truth of His Name
Atreus was the son of Kratos and the Jotunn Faye, born in Midgard and given the hidden name Loki. Across two great journeys he grew from a sickly boy into the prophesied champion of the Giants, the god of mischief whose fate was bound to Ragnarok.
Gunnr
Gunnr, the Mistress of War, was the Valkyrie who reached every battlefield first to judge the fallen. Cursed by Odin and sealed in Midgard, she was freed by Kratos and Atreus and reborn as a Shield Maiden.
Kratos
Kratos was the demigod son of Zeus who rose from a Spartan general to the Greek God of War, destroyed the pantheon of Olympus in a quest for vengeance, and then began again in the Norse realms as a father seeking to leave his bloody past behind.
Sigrun: the Valkyrie Queen Kratos freed
Odin's curse drove the Valkyrie Queen mad, so Sigrun imprisoned her eight sisters and then herself. Kratos and Atreus beat her and freed her spirit.
Asgard
Asgard was the realm of the Aesir gods, perched in the crown of Yggdrasil and ruled by Odin from the hall of Gladsheim. Behind the great wall of Hrimthur it stood as a fortress against the prophesied doom of Ragnarok, until Kratos breached it and the realm fell.
Freya
Freya was the Vanir goddess of love, war, and magic who married Odin to end the Aesir-Vanir War and was cursed to remain in Midgard. Once the Witch of the Woods, she aided Kratos and Atreus, swore vengeance after the death of her son Baldur, and at last turned her wrath on Odin himself.
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