Why Did Kratos Kill Poseidon's Princess? A Door Puzzle

Kratos killed Poseidon's Princess because he needed a weight. In God of War III he frees her from her chains, then sets her at a giant crank so it stays raised and holds two gates open, and once he's through, the crank's weight crushes her. (God of War III)

That's the whole reason the game gives. The full entry on who she was is on the Poseidon's Princess page. This one covers the death, why it plays the way it does, and the wife and daughter mix-ups.

How did Poseidon's Princess die?#

The order matters, so here it is step by step. (God of War III, and per the God of War Wiki entry on Poseidon's Chamber)

1. Kratos kills Poseidon in the game's opening battle, well before he meets the princess.
2. After killing Hercules and breaking the arena floor, he drops into the sewers below and follows an underwater path up into Poseidon's Chamber, a golden hall on Mount Olympus.
3. He wants the Pandora statue at the end of a central hallway, and the way to it runs through gates worked by a crank wheel.
4. In a side room with three Hyperion Gates, he solves a lift puzzle using Feral Hounds and his own weight, and the gates take him through to the princess in Poseidon's quarters.
5. She's chained up and crying for help, and as he comes closer she says she doesn't want help from him. He cuts her chains anyway.
6. He leads her back, still handcuffed, and on the way stops her dropping into a spike pit.
7. At the crank he raises it once more and uses her to keep it up, which opens the two gates.
8. As he walks on to the Pandora statue, her body gives way under the crank and it crushes her. Kratos can go back and see her feet poking from a pool of her blood inside the shaft.

Then Zeus interrupts Kratos's talk with the Pandora statue, and Kratos hurries on toward Aphrodite's Chamber.

Why did Kratos do it?#

The game's only answer is the puzzle. The crank had to stay up for the gates to open, and he used her to hold it. (God of War III, and per the God of War Wiki entry on Poseidon's Chamber)

My read is that the scene is there to show how far gone he is by this point in God of War III. He saves her from the spikes, which makes the crank worse, not better: he kept her alive only until she was useful. The wiki calls her a victim of people who just wanted to use her, and Poseidon and Kratos both qualify. (per the God of War Wiki entry on Poseidon's Princess)

The developers didn't exactly play it straight either. Finishing the sequence originally unlocked a trophy called "I didn't do it... But I wish I did!", a joke about her outfit and cuffs that was removed from the PlayStation 4 remaster. Concept art also shows the designers once planned a sex scene between Kratos and her after he freed her. (per the God of War Wiki entry on Poseidon's Princess)

One small detail the wiki flags: she calls him "Lord Kratos" when she begs him not to leave her, even though he's no longer a god. She may simply not know what happened in God of War II. (God of War III, and per the God of War Wiki entry on Poseidon's Princess)

Who was Poseidon's Princess?#

The games don't give her history. She's a beautiful princess Poseidon took as an unwilling lover and kept shackled in his personal quarters. A letter from him in her room asks his "dearest beloved" to forgive him for taking his rage out on her, blaming his brother Zeus for refusing to use the power he keeps hidden in the Labyrinth. The wiki reads that as a sign he had feelings for her despite the abuse. (God of War III, and per the God of War Wiki entry on Poseidon's Princess)

She's never named in the games. The name Hecuba Maneros comes from a Playboy magazine article, with no official confirmation behind it. (per the God of War Wiki entry on Poseidon's Princess)

Was she Poseidon's wife?#

No. In God of War, Poseidon's wife is Amphitrite, an Oceanid and goddess of the sea. She never appears in person, and Poseidon never mentions her. What the games do show is a chamber with a big trident-bearing statue of her, inside the Challenge of Poseidon in Pandora's Temple in the first game. The God of War Wiki notes she's often confused with the princess. (God of War (2005), and per the God of War Wiki entries on Amphitrite and Poseidon)

The princess was one of Poseidon's affairs, not a queen. The wiki uses her as proof he was unfaithful to Amphitrite, alongside his affair with Aphrodite. (per the God of War Wiki entry on Poseidon)

Was she Poseidon's daughter?#

No. "Princess" here means royalty, not his child. The daughters the God of War Wiki gives Poseidon are the Nyads, water nymphs who turn up in the Flooded Passage, part of the first game's Challenge of Poseidon. The God of War novel has them freed from the temple after Kratos claims Poseidon's Trident. The sons the wiki lists for him include Theseus and Polyphemus. (God of War (2005), God of War (novel), and per the God of War Wiki entries on Poseidon and Nyads)

If you want the bigger picture of the third game, the God of War III ending explained picks up where Poseidon's Chamber leaves off.