Siege of Rhodes

The Siege of Rhodes was a battle in which the armies of Sparta laid siege to the Greek city of Rhodes under Kratos, their God of War. It was the final act of his conquest of Greece, and it provoked Zeus, already fearful of the prophecy of the Marked Warrior, into a scheme to be rid of his son. At Rhodes the King of Olympus stripped Kratos of his divinity and struck him down, the betrayal that turned the Ghost of Sparta against the gods for good.

A city under conquest#

During his reign as the God of War, Kratos turned the armies of Sparta against the cities of Greece, ordering them to conquer the land and put to the sword any who refused to submit. The endless slaughter served as a distraction from the visions of his past failures that the gods had refused to banish even after he killed Ares. Favored by their God of War, the Spartan armies became all but invincible. Rhodes stood as the last city in Greece still resisting them, and as it fell, Olympus seethed at Kratos' arrogance and awaited their king's response.

The descent from Olympus#

With the siege well advanced, Kratos watched the carnage through the deific vision granted by his godhood, barking orders from the heavens to allow no escape. Dismissing Athena, who pleaded with him to stop, he plunged earthward and struck Rhodes as Ares had once struck Athens, towering over the city and crushing mortals beneath his feet. He intended to topple the famous Colossus of Rhodes as the crowning act of his triumph.

The eagle and the Colossus#

As Kratos joined the slaughter, a great eagle appeared and stripped him of the majority of his divine power, infusing it into the Colossus of Rhodes. Humiliated, Kratos shrank to mortal size before his own Spartans, swearing that Athena would pay for what he believed was her doing. The stolen power gave the Colossus life and a single purpose, to destroy the God of War. Robbed of the strength he had come to rely on, Kratos found himself in a desperate fight for his life as the statue grew ever stronger, and the defenders of Rhodes, sensing he had lost his divine status, pressed their counterattack.

Zeus and the Blade of Olympus#

Flung across the city in the struggle, Kratos was offered power by an unseen voice. Distrustful but desperate, he accepted the aid of the Blade of Olympus and drained the last of his divinity into it, then made quick work of the Colossus. As the lifeless statue collapsed, its hand left him gravely wounded, and he lost his grip on the Blade that held his godhood. The eagle then revealed itself as Zeus. The King of Olympus offered Kratos a chance to repent and pledge eternal servitude, and when Kratos refused, Zeus impaled him with the Blade of Olympus. Declaring that the cycle ended there, Zeus annihilated the entire Spartan army along with the defenders of Rhodes.

Aftermath#

The destruction at Rhodes marked the beginning of Kratos' war against the gods. Rescued from death by Gaia, an ancient enemy of Zeus, he was guided toward the Sisters of Fate so that he might undo the betrayal. Wielding the power of the Loom of Fate, Kratos would later return to the very moment of Zeus' treachery, reclaim the Blade of Olympus, and carry his vengeance to the Summit of Sacrifice.