Kratos

This article is about the main character in the SCEA games God of War and God of War II. For the character in Greek Mythology, see Cratos. For the Tales of Symphonia character, see Kratos Aurion.

Kratos
'God of War series character
[[File:=File:God-of-war2-kratos.jpg|frameless]]
First game	God of War
Created by	David Jaffe
In-universe information
Weapon	Blades of Chaos, Blade of Artemis, Blade of the Gods (God of War), Athena's Blades (God of War II), Barbarian Hammer (God of War II), Spear of Destiny (God of War II), Blade of Olympus (God of War II)
Home	Mount Olympus (former), Sparta

Kratos is the video game character and anti-hero of Sony's God of War series.

Kratos is an original character created by David Jaffe, based and set in Greek Mythology. The world in which Kratos' story takes place is a highly fruitized version of ancient Greece, with the mythological aspects altered from the actual myths to fit the plot.

Biography

Early life

Kratos was born in Sparta, and as suggested in God of War, while Kratos was chosen to be trained as a warrior, his brother was sent to the mountain wilderness where he would eventually die.

Kratos became the ruthless captain of a rapidly growing Spartan army. Their triumphs would be halted when they faced a massive Barbarian tribe. Kratos called out to Ares, the God of War, pledging his life to him in exchange for victory. Ares accepted and gave him the Blades of Chaos as a sign of Kratos' servitude.

Ares tricked Kratos into killing his family because they were of no use to Ares. The Oracle of the village cursed him to bear their ashes on his skin, earning him the nickname "Ghost of Sparta." After being cursed for his sins, Kratos begins to serve the Gods of Olympus for ten years in hopes of having his past forgiven.

God of War

See also: God of War

While traveling through the Aegean Sea, Poseidon, God of the Sea , commanded Kratos to destroy the Hydra. After defeating the Hydra, Athena tells Kratos that the gods would forgive his past if he could stop Ares from destroying Athens, her beloved city.

While in Athens Kratos saved The Oracle of Athens from death. In gratitude she revealed the means by which a mortal could kill a god - Pandora's box. Kratos sets out for Athens where he finds an oracle who tells him of Pandora's box. Kratos sets out to find Pandora's box which holds the key to defeating a God. After finally releasing the box for the temple that confineds it, Kratos is killed by Ares after Ares throws a column at him. However, even though he fell into the depths of Hades, he had no intentions of resting. He manages to make his way back to Earth in which he also manages to open Pandora's Box which releses the power of the gods onto kratos and makes him a giant like Ares. Kratos succeeds in killing Ares by stabbing him in the chest with the final blade that was given to him from the Gods. Kratos had done the impossible, then Kratos finds out that the Gods never promised to actually take away the visions but only promised to forgive his sins. Kratos plunges himself off of a cliff but is brought back to Earth by Athena. She tells him about the empty throne for the God of War in which Kratos takes his rightful place as the new God of War.

God of War II

See also: God of War II

Although Kratos was the new God of War, the other gods shunned him for his dark past. Kratos quickly grew tired of their pettiness and devoted much of his time to his Spartan armies on Earth, helping them conquer city after city. Ignoring Athena's pleas for peace, Kratos prepared to deliver the decisive blow on Rhodes. However, Zeus, weary of Kratos' impertinence, tricked him into relinquishing his power and killed him, in an elaborate plan that involved bringing the Colossus of Rhodes to life.

As Kratos descended into Hades, he received help from the Titan Gaia, ever present of Mother Earth. She told him that in order to change his fate, Kratos had to seek out the three Sisters of Fate. After a brief visit to Typhon's lair, Kratos safely arrived on the island, encountering and defeating numerous adversaries, such as Theseus, The Barbarian King, Perseus, and Euryale, sister of Medusa, whom Kratos had previously killed.

After encounters with Icarus and Atlas, Kratos defeated the Sisters of Fate: Lakhesis, Atropos, and Clotho. He used their mirrors to return to the moment of his death, where he fought Zeus. However, just as he was about to deliver the final blow, Athena intervened, protecting Zeus with her own body. Right before she died she reveals to Kratos that Zeus was really Kratos' father.

Kratos then traveled back in time again, this time to the Great Titan war and takes the Titan Gaia. Kratos persuaded the Titans to accompany him back to the present, and as the game closed, he leads them in a gigantic assault on Mount Olympus.

Personality

Kratos is a character filled with rage who refuses to accept any blame given to him and prefers to pass them onto others probably due to his pride as a Spartan. In God of War, he blames the original God of War, Ares, for the death of his wife and his daughter even though he, himself, killed them in blind fury. In God of War II, he blames Zeus (and by extension, the Gods of Olympus) for not forgiving Kratos for the murder of his own family that he himself killed. He prefers to resort to violence in situations in which it isn't actually called for. In short, Kratos' personality was best described by Atlas, who said "Kratos, still the arrogant and foolish Warrior." Even then, as a Spartan, Kratos prevails amongst all other Gods. Even at times when he was backed to a corner, he shows his sorrowful and sad side that has tormented him since his service to Ares.

Powers and Abilities

Being the son of Zeus and a mortal woman, at birth Kratos had already had the powers of a normal demi-god which are superhuman strength and durability, but these powers were not fully realized by Kratos until a later age. An example of Kratos' massive strength is when he was facing the Hydra. He was able to pull the main Hydra's head against it's own strength (the Hydra in God of War was the size of a small island). His key weapons, the Blades of Chaos, are his default weapons and grant him certain powers such as a small amount of fire manipulation (his blades become engulfed in flames when used in combat), high jumps, and possibly a little telekinesis to manipulate his blades. During his campaign against Ares in the first God of War game, he was bestowed various and powerful godly powers.

• Poseidon's Rage: A magic power that allows Kratos to attack all enemies around him with a storm/electrical based power.
• Medusa's Gaze: Though not a true godly power, he can use the decapitated gorgon Medusa's head to turn enemies to stone.
• Zeus' Fury: A lightning based projectile that can be thrown by Kratos at high speeds. Can be charged for a more powerful attack.
• Army of Hades: Kratos can summon the invincible souls of the dead to attack enemies. Even Ares himself could not withstand them.
• Rage of the Gods: Kratos's most powerful magic. He can call upon the powers of the gods to become stronger, faster, invincibility, and has infinite magic.

At the end of God of , Kratos uses the power of Pandora's Box to make himself an equal in power to Ares and this allowed Kratos to defeat him, despite the fact that Ares took most of Kratos' power after sending him to his own sub-conscious, forcing him to fight copies of himself in order to save his wife and child. Despite Kratos' best efforts, his loved ones still died by the hands of Ares.

After defeating Ares, the Gods of Olympus made Kratos the new God of War and gave him virtually unlimited power, but still slighty weaker than Zeus. However, after using his Spartan armies to take over city after city, Zeus decided to trick Kratos into throwing away his powers. When Kratos gave up his powers, Zeus killed him with the Blade of Olympus. He escaped from the underworld with the help of Gaia and a burning vendetta against the king of the gods. In his conquest to kill Zeus, he received various powers bestowed to him by the Titans.

• Typhon's Bane: A magic that takes on the form of a bow that allows Kratos to fire wind elemental projectiles and create a small tornado to decimate enemies.
• Cronos' Rage: Allows Kratos to place lightning based orbs to attack enemies with and explode when finished. It usually stuns smaller enemies for the duration of the attack. It can place a maximum of three at a time. But more power and orbs can be summoned in time.
• Euryale's Gaze: Basically the God of War 2 version of "Medusa's Gaze". Now Kratos can move whilst holding the Giant gorgon's head.
• Atlas Quake: Kratos slams the ground with his fists and send a powerful wave of earth in all directions and throws boulders in the air.
• Rage of the Titans: Similar to the "Rage of the Gods" power; you aren't invincible, though you still take less damage than normal. You become faster, stronger, and after twenty-five hit combo plus, you can summon a tornado of flame that destroys all enemies around you. Unlike Rage of the Gods, Kratos can switch off the power if he no longer needs it and still has time left.

During God of War II, Kratos gains the power of the Fates which is said by the Fates themselves to be the most powerful force in the universe. This power gives him complete mastery of time, even able to transport an army of Titans without affecting the timeline, and gives him greater power than that of all the Gods of Olympus. In addition to the power of the Fates, after getting the Blade of Olympus back from Zeus, Kratos got his near unlimited powers as the God of War back from the sword giving him even more power. Another note of the Fates' powers is that it does not affect the timeline of any events, such as Kratos' corpse when he retrieves the Blade of Olympus from his past self. In essence, this is the most powerful magic bestowed upon any being.

Weapons

God of War Weapons:

• Blades of Chaos: Kratos's most used weapons. These weapons are two large, ax-like blades attached to chains which wind around Kratos' wrists. They emit red auras when leveled to their maximum potential.
• Blade of Artemis: A large, powerful, but cumbersome sword. Once used by the goddess Artemis to slay a Titan.
• Pandora's Box: While not a true "weapon", it is often said that it is "the most powerful weapon a mortal can wield". Pandora's Box is a large, golden box that has the power to make a mortal powerful enough to kill a god. So far, the only true thing that Pandora's Box has been shown to do is make a mortal the size of a god, which makes them 200 ft tall. It's also safe to say it also gives the wielder near omnipitant god-like powers.
• Blade of the Gods: A massive sword that Kratos used to slay Ares. Seen earlier in God of War when Kratos uses it as a bridge.
• Athena Blades: The same as the Blades of Chaos, but golden. they are a gift from Athena after defeating Ares.

God of War II Weapons:

• Athena Blades: They lose their golden taint at the start of God of War II and regain a dark red golden taint as Kratos levels them up.
• Barbarian Hammer: A large hammer with a head the size of a small car and crushing power of an elephant. It has the ability to summon the souls of the dead and emit a large wave of energy.
• Spear of Destiny: A purple spear covered in purple crytals. This spear has the ability to use its crystals as projectiles, make a explosive crystal, and cause enemies to explode if an enemy touches the crystal at one end of the spear.
• Blade of Olympus: The legendary sword that was created by Zeus to end the Great War with the Titans. This blade has the ability to cast powerful blue energy as projectiles and absorb the power of enemies or whoever is wielding the blade.

References

• God of War 2 Game Script