Kratos & Atreus against The Pantheons

God of War Ragnarok Speculation

SPOILER WARNING

I am a fan of this franchise despite an entire playtime of twenty minutes over a decade ago. A friend wanted to get rid of his PSP so he lent me the device with the game preinstalled. While I enjoyed the mechanics and such I did not find the device appealing and was not keen to purchase gaming stations for just this one franchise. Having said so, I was enthralled by the idea of a game featuring a pantheon-busting individual peppered with the usual tropes of betrayal and mockery.

So years passed and YouTube played a crucial role in keeping me updated with the course of events of the god of war, Kratos. Eventually, he destroyed that of Greece and now he has vanquished the villain of Norse mythology except that fewer lives were extinguished as a direct consequence of his actions.

On viewing the final scenes of God of War Ragnarok, which is the fifth and latest instalment of the franchise, my mind formulated the following idea. It is also my own comment on the featured video (user: brandleesee):

Should there be a sequel I envision Sindri as an antihero who either hinders or is forced to aid Kratos or Atreus. Imagine the next game would develop two parallel stories: one featuring Loki on his quest to rally the Giants while Kratos and Freya complete rebuilding leaving the latter to roam on those lands while Kratos ends up battling a different pantheon. The game would be told in chapters altering main characters where Kratos' campaign would become so massive that aid would be necessary from entities of unquestionable power and initially Freya's people would rally but not being enough Atreus returns with his newfound army and wreak havoc on whatever enemy Kratos would have. Delving further into this disparage channel of thoughts, the Egyptian pantheon may not be the pantheon to require such a massive war effort, maybe the Hindu would because of the spectrum of gods that the pantheon encompasses.

Long, I know! And on my dedicated sub-Reddit post (user: Yrvyne) I said that that was my tl;dr, go figure!

So without further ado, I am reproducing my arguments and thoughts on GOW6.

Should there be a sequel I envision Sindri as an antihero who either hinders or is forced to aid Kratos or Atreus.

Sindri's demeanour since his brother's death was negative and fueled by vengeance. It seems to me that he only aided Kratos and Atreus to have a stab at Odin's soul. During the secret ending, we see that Sindri is not over mourning his brother and does not accept any words of sympathy from Kratos.

There is, however, a theory floating around the web that Sindri could be possessed by Odin who is taking advantage of Sindri's despair allowing for the sphere's destruction thereby releasing Odin's soul.

Alas, I speculate that this is not the case and that Sindri remains in that state throughout the next game (if any) and either refuses to help even at the cost of his own life (because he had made it clear that taking his family away has left him completely isolated) or is forced to aid the protagonists against his will.

Who knows, he could also come around and realise that Brok's sacrifice was a casualty of war and return to his comic and jovial self.

Imagine the next game would develop two parallel stories: one featuring Loki on his quest to rally the Giants while Kratos and Freya complete rebuilding leaving the latter to roam on those lands while Kratos ends up battling a different pantheon.

The ending of GOW Ragnarok strongly suggests a sequel of Atreus' adventures, however, and in my opinion, removing Kratos from his role as the main protagonist of the series would rather spurn a spin-off of the God of War series rather than a continuation of the main plotline.

Kratos does declare that he shall concentrate his efforts to rebuild what has been destroyed. But does that really mean that he would embrace a pacifist life and bury his weapons for good? Well, the last panel depicts him as a god worthy of worship but would he remain so if those who honour him find that their prayers for liberation are no longer heeded because he has now become an Odin-disguised Tyr?

On the contrary, I say that he would keep his promise to Freya and complete his self-imposed duty to rebuild but once that is finished his just(ice) warrior spirit would not let him rest when he knows that there are other realms (having different Pantheons) that could be mistreating their worshippers. I speculate that somehow he catches wind that a certain god in a certain foreign land is scaling the harm to his people to an unprecedented level and Kratos becomes compelled to liberate that caste. Or so I think!

The game would be told in chapters altering main characters where Kratos' campaign would become so massive that aid would be necessary from entities of unquestionable power and initially Freya's people would rally but not being enough Atreus returns with his newfound army and wreak havoc on whatever enemy Kratos would have.

Unless there is a spinoff, there could be two potential plotlines in the next God of War game constituting Atreus' quest and Kratos' new campaign. (Here, as I write this complex elaboration, I am having vibes of Age of Mythology and its expansions.) Anyhow, the tale would be told in chapters alternating between the progress of the separated father and son duo culminating in them meeting - rather unexpectedly for Kratos - on a common battlefield.

I get this idea of alternating chapters from Bram Stoker's novel Dracula where the story is told from the viewpoint of each character of prominence. Transposing this idea to the necessity of two distinct plotlines as per a GOWR sequel, then I think that this would be a viable solution.

Naturally, and here I am going meta, for purposes of extending profits for the developers and publishers, we could see either adventure as a direct sequel to GOWR and the other becoming a spinoff securing a revenue stream for years to come.

Reverting back to the spirit of the GOW series, father and son would finally meet on the battlefield to the surprise and possible admonition of the father, and with the help of other allies (potentially being, supplied by, Freya) end the war or spill over another sequel to end the war that Kratos would be leading.

Delving further into this disparage channel of thoughts, the Egyptian pantheon may not be the pantheon to require such a massive war effort, maybe the Hindu would because of the spectrum of gods that the pantheon encompasses.

To justify having a prism of armies, therefore, Kratos' common style of a lone warrior while having encouraged the enslaved people to revolt, Atreus' Giants and Freya's aid, a Pantheon made of a complex multitude of gods and goddesses would be necessary. Personally, I do not believe that the Egyptian or Mayan Pantheons would justify such a massive war effort.

Deploying those three armies would be justified against a complex Pantheon as the Hindu one. I am by no means saying that the Egyptian or Mayan are not large or complex enough but the sheer volume of deities that my proposed one has could justify three massive armies.

The Egyptian or Mayan could have been a challenge to the lone Kratos of the first and second God of War in the series but with such potent allies as Loki, Freya and Mimir's intellect, they would make short work of the Egyptian and Mayan Pantheons. In my opinion, these are equivalent to the Greek, Roman and Norse Pantheons.

More Arguments

...probably Hindu could cause the studio to collapse because of the wide present followership that religion has especially if it is boycotted prior to its release. So an alternative expansive Pantheon would be necessary to keep my theory valid.

To mitigate my comment that the Roman Pantheon is equivalent in size to the Greek one, the theory could be further expanded in such a way that as you perfectly pointed out the Roman Gods mirror the Greek, however, they are aware of Kratos' destruction and have thus learned to arm themselves better against him and his formidable allies thereby justifying the necessity of the proposed three armies (lone Kratos with the impoverished worshippers, Loki and the Giants, Freya and her forces) to embark on a battle of as yet unseen dimension.

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...the series has only treated mythologies that to my knowledge are no longer worshipped and I did attempt to plug a Pantheon which has an exponentially large fellowship. So, yes, maybe an expansive Pantheon that is no longer worshipped would fare better than Hindu.

I think that for Kratos to follow in the path Odin would require maybe another four or five games because at this point (end of GOW Ragnarok) he has realised that he is worthy of worship and I personally believe that that has to first be explored and concluded before the studio would let him follow a darker path.

There are endless possibilities here. One of which could be for Kratos verging from his righteous path where Atreus would be forced to end him and thus circling back to that scene where Atreus questions his father if each son as a god ends up killing his father or mother.

The developers could certainly develop a new pantheon based on a conglomeration of other mythologies and other mythical creatures and beings.

As an example, there were four years between the release of GOW and GOWR. This involved writing a new script, developing the game itself and producing the character acting and modelling to mention the main parts of the game development process.

Now, in four years with the help of possibly additional researchers, writers and academics (specialised in mythologies) they could embark on a quest to develop an original pantheon with original or borrowed powers, quirks and backstories to form an entirely new God of War tale with never heard before gods, demigods, emperors, kings, queens, warriors and common folk.

In terms of writing a new pantheon, I strongly believe that it is a possibility.

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If rebuilding the Norse lands sets Kratos at odds with those above Odin then that could be a viable sequel. The developers could change their minds but to date, they seem to keep the rhetoric of skipping to another pantheon lessening the probability of that ever happening.

Probably the superior gods would be part and parcel with The Rift who could also be gods from pantheons even older than the Norse and the Greeks in turn being considered vastly stronger and more resourceful than those we have so far seen justifying a unification of vast armies and capable individuals.

The puzzle is where to place the rift. It could be referenced lightly in any immediate sequel because the main access point - the mask - has been destroyed, however, in search of the Giants, Loki might stumble on a prophecy that facilitates entry to the rift and its vanquishing leading to a subsequent sequel that would then prepare for or effectively conclude the series which would feature more prominently Kratos being that he is the frontman of the entire series and therefore expected to bring an end to all the chaos inclusive of the rift.

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Those were my thoughts on the next God of War game. Whatever the case, I am too invested to be disappointed. So, bring it on, Santa Monica!