Tyr: the god of war who chose peace

Tyr was the Aesir God of War, Law, Justice, and Honor, and a prince of Asgard. The son of Odin and the giantess Hrodr, and half-brother to Thor, Heimdall, and Baldur, he gave up the role of a war god after a spiritual awakening and devoted himself to peace. He served as his father's mediator and built bridges between the realms, until Odin came to see him as a threat, imprisoned him, and spread word that he had died. Long after, he was freed by Kratos and Freya, and guided Kratos through the trials of Valhalla. (God of War (2018); God of War Ragnarök; God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla)

A war god turned to peace#

Tyr was born to Odin and the giantess Hrodr and grew up as a prince of Asgard. When he came of age he chose to fight for peace rather than conquest, becoming a frequent traveller eager to learn from other cultures, which he believed was the only true path to peace. His kindness won him gifts wherever he went, which he kept in a personal vault, and his leadership brought the realms together to raise the Temple in the Lake of Nine, allowing swift travel between the Nine Realms. In this way he became a war god in name only, using his power not for himself but for a higher purpose. (God of War (2018))

So beloved was Tyr that even the Jötnar, sworn enemies of the Aesir, trusted him with their deepest secrets and gifted him bejeweled eyes of Bifrost crystal that allowed him to pass between realms. Mimir, who counted himself the smartest man alive, was deeply impressed by Tyr's cunning and resourcefulness. (God of War (2018))

Betrayal and imprisonment#

Following the truce between the Aesir and Vanir, Tyr sought to broker peace between his people and the giants. The Jötnar, though wary, trusted him enough to admit Odin into Jötunheim for negotiations. Odin, however, never meant to honor any deal, and used the visit to spy on the giants and steal their secret wisdom. When the giants saw through him they expelled him with a curse forbidding his return, and in his fury Odin set Thor to slaughter the giants of Midgard. (God of War (2018); God of War Ragnarök)

Feeling responsible for their suffering, Tyr aided Faye, the guardian of the Jötnar, in hiding the gate to Jötunheim in the space between realms, so that Odin could never reach it again. Odin came to suspect his son of plotting with the giants and had him secretly imprisoned in Asgard, spreading rumors of his death. Almost everyone in the Nine Realms came to believe Odin had killed him. Tyr remained imprisoned for the rest of Odin's reign, slowly erased from the memory of the Aesir. (God of War (2018); God of War Ragnarök)

The false Tyr#

When Kratos and Atreus set out to find Tyr after learning he might still live, Odin moved to keep them from his true prison. He took on Tyr's shape and imprisoned himself in a mine in Svartalfheim, posing as a broken and cowardly pacifist. The disguise served a double cruelty: it deceived his enemies while destroying his son's reputation, depicting the great God of War as a man who had lost all courage. As the false Tyr, Odin sowed mistrust within the group led by Kratos and drove a wedge between the Spartan and his son. The ruse held until the dwarf Brok called his claims into question, whereupon Odin stabbed Brok and revealed himself, leaving everyone to believe the real Tyr had been dead all along. (God of War Ragnarök)

Freedom after Ragnarök#

When Asgard was destroyed, Tyr's prison was among the few fragments that survived, landing in Niflheim. There Kratos and Freya, exploring the ruins, found the true Tyr alive in a cell, marking tally marks upon the wall, wholly unaware of all that had passed. Kratos at first took him for one of Odin's illusions, but Mimir judged him real. (God of War Ragnarök)

Tyr was overcome to learn that Odin was dead, Asgard destroyed, and the realms free of Aesir rule after so long. After taking time to absorb the news, he left his cell to wander the realms, and could be found in many of them: meditating in Vanaheim, sitting at the Spark of the World in Muspelheim where he mourned Surtr and Sinmara, communing silently with Hraesvelgr in Helheim, and watching the freed lyngbakr in Svartalfheim, where he offered comfort to Mimir as one former captive of Odin to another. (God of War Ragnarök)

The trials of Valhalla#

When Freya asked Kratos to join her council and take up the office of God of War, the request filled him with fear and guilt, and he avoided her. Tyr, seeing his struggle, sent Kratos an anonymous invitation to Valhalla, with directions and a message urging him to face his past there in order to master his future. Within Valhalla's chambers Kratos eventually found Tyr meditating at a recreation of the summit of Mount Olympus. Tyr revealed himself as the one who had summoned him, and offered to help him prepare for what lay behind a great door by sparring with him, for as gods of war, fighting was their way of clearing the mind. (God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla)

Through repeated duels and runs through Valhalla's memory chambers, Tyr questioned Kratos about his past: the deal he struck with Ares to save Sparta, his killing of Helios, and his final sacrifice after killing Zeus. Rather than letting Kratos bury these deeds in shame, Tyr helped him confront and accept them, for his refusal to face his old self was the very thing keeping him from becoming the new God of War. With each session Tyr drew on a different weapon won from foreign lands, a spear and shield, dual khopesh blades, a macuahuitl, and a nodachi, and on magic learned in his travels. When asked why he would not retake the office himself, Tyr explained that he was remembered only as an ancient myth, and that his own attempts to unite the realms against Odin had ended in failure. (God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla)

After their last bout, Tyr told Kratos that fear, hate, and love live in everyone, god or mortal, and reassured him that he had given hope to the Nine Realms. Ready at last, Kratos walked through the door, confronted his past self, and embraced the future as a God of Hope. Tyr congratulated him, and welcomed him to spar again whenever he wished. (God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla)

A god without peer#

Tyr had regrown the left arm that the wolf Garm bit off, with the help of magic learned from another pantheon, and Egyptian hieroglyphs still mark that arm. His method combined physical prowess with magic gathered across the realms, making his fighting style versatile and deadly. A mural suggested it took both Odin and Thor together to defeat and imprison him, and both Mimir and Sigrun called him the best, without peer, with the only possible exception being Kratos himself, who counted Tyr among the most formidable opponents he had ever faced. Unlike his kin, who were power-hungry and warmongering, Tyr was genuinely good, and one of the very few gods to earn Kratos' respect. (God of War Ragnarök; God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla)