 Testing, testing, boy. With Atreus having run from home, Kratos searches for him, but ultimately he knows that his son has gone to Asgard. Whether or not this is the first time is of little importance. A Kratos now can only wait for his son to return home. After Midgard, I spent a few hours in the Moose behind. Those hours turned to days, until I decided to return to Sindri's home. Atreus enters Sindri's home, and he says that he needs to think, that he's... hurt. It was fitting. As he enters his room, he takes off all of his armor, his chains even, and sits on the bed staring at his hands. This is the first time we see Kratos without his armaments on in the new series, and in this game, it's the first time we see him without those chains. The last time we saw Kratos without those attachments, he seemed free. Free of the burden of his past, and ready to be better. But this time, this circumstance, it's much different. Here's Kratos looking at his hands, looking at the reminders of who he once was, of who he is ready to be again if it means saving his son. Here is the God of War. As he goes to sleep, Kratos dreams of a memory on a boat ride with his newborn, and fell along with him. The game reveals to us that she is the first one who told him to be better, that he is not his failures, that he is not his past, and at the same time, she tells him to protect their son. How can Kratos both avoid becoming his past self and protect his son? How can he be better? Does it matter if the God of War returns to the God that he once was, if it's for a good reason? Does that count? Is that being better? Is that honoring Faye? And as Kratos looks at his hands, the music swells, as if asking him, who are you now, and who will you choose to be? Kratos is interesting because there is a bit of nuance to this character that can easily be overlooked when remembering the first trilogy. It's easy when you have mini-games like this, and most encounters like this. But there is a bit of depth to the tattooed warrior. Kratos absolutely was selfish, crude, violent, and he killed many innocent people in his rage. For many people, rage and vengeance are the beyal and all of his character, before the journey to the Norse world. But the other side of this younger Kratos suggests that he had a small semblance of humanity still left. We know him as a father now, but he was a father in Greece as well. In fact, children have consistently had a great impact on Kratos' life. They are the one thing, the one constant that continues to ground the Spartan. They are what truly humanize him in a dehumanizing quest for vengeance. When it comes to his first daughter, Calliope, Ares tricked Kratos into killing her and his wife, Lysandra, permanently branding their ashes onto his skin as a constant reminder of his decision. With all the power that Kratos gained to fuel his vengeance, he was once given the opportunity to see his daughter once more in Elysium. Rather easily, Kratos gave his quest up to be with her. But in that short amount of time, Kratos was then forced to make an impossible decision, an impossible choice to forsake her in order to keep her alive. Calliope watched as her father killed innocent spirits in Elysium and he forcibly pushed his daughter away, forever selling the image of her father, all to save her spirit. With nothing to fight for and unable to die, Kratos became fear itself. He became a monster, a monster who would soon be feared by the entire pantheon, especially Zeus himself. Fear is a key theme in this series. The reason Zeus wanted to kill Kratos is because he feared the cycle of gods killing their parents as he killed his own father. But in order to get to Zeus, Kratos had to let his rage and his lust for vengeance fully consume him. And by the time we get to the third game, Kratos' humanity is dangling on by a thread. But when Pandora was able to see Kratos and not see a monster, when Pandora was able to see him and see hope and not fear, something in him changed. With the Olympians, Pandora was not even seen as a real girl, just a tool to open a box locked away out of Zeus' fear. When he saves her with an initial desire to use her, again Kratos changes. He could not gain the desire to save her, maybe it was the guilty felt over Calliope, or it was the mark of a man who was just a bit more than violence and vengeance. Supposing this final installment was so close to his goal, but for a brief moment was willing to sacrifice it all to save this girl that he barely knew. In the end it was Pandora who saved him as he wanted so badly to save her. He failed once more as the desire to kill Zeus got the better of him. Still those short moments that he and Pandora spent together were so impactful that Kratos sacrificed himself while recalling her words to release hope into ancient Greece to save their world and to free it from the gods. Despite all that, Kratos had still ravaged the entire pantheon. So many creatures, so many people, innocent and not, died by his hand. Their blood dried on his blades. He was unable to die, a curse that would follow him everywhere he went. Going back to that memory that Kratos has on the boat, he says that he does not fear his son, but instead fears for him. Kratos is over 150 years old now. All that time Kratos has had to think about what he's done, about the guilt that only grows in him. On the boat, fate insists that Kratos says a few words to their son, anything, just so that he can know Kratos' voice. In these memories, Kratos barely even holds his child. Again he does not fear Atreus, but instead fears for him. Surely the god of war was asking himself, if he even deserves to say words to his newborn son, if he deserves to even carry him, to look him in the eyes as he seldom does in these memories, and how could he? The god of war killed his family with his own two hands. His wife and his daughter branded on his skin as a constant reminder of his failure. When Kratos looks at his hands sitting on the bed, he sees both the hands that he ruined his family with, and the ashes as well. He then brings his hands down to the scar that Zeus gave him, another reminder of who he was. He sees a man who couldn't protect his only brother, Deimos, a man who was forced to kill his mother, hands that have never saved anything. So how could he, a man who was born in the ruthless battlefields of Sparta, raised through violence, destroyed his life through that very violence, through that desire for glory? How could he ever be worthy enough to carry another child? Does he deserve to? And if he did, what good could Kratos truly teach his son? Speak to your son, Faye asks, but what words would have value coming from the ghost of Sparta? But only did he kill his family, Kratos' fury did not discriminate. The innocent, the deserving, it did not matter. An entire world, left in flames, couldn't even save Pandora, his fury gotten the way of saving her life too. So in what world could Kratos believe that he could be anything more than a God of utter destruction, and now to ask him to use those same hands to carry a delicate child once again, after failing the last two? This is Kratos' struggle. Years after this memory, Kratos' fears still exist, with a trace much older and having the task to bring him and Faye's ashes to the highest peak in all the realms. In the Norse world, Kratos has been steeled by his old life, by the man that he once was. A man who used to speak often is now one of few words. Everything he does, every step he takes, is for a purpose. He is a God in a new world, trying to be a simple man once again. Kratos says early on that he is not ready. Not ready to really be a parent again. Not ready to go on this journey without his wife. Atreus is 11 years old in this game. Kratos has distanced himself from his child for 11 years. When Kratos is sucked in by the light of Alphime, he hears Atreus say that they barely know each other. He doesn't talk to me, doesn't teach me. The Spartan was a silent provider, a silent father, and now we know that Faye was trying to get Kratos ready for that day. And now, he is trying his best to be just like her, to be brave like she was, to be strong like she was. They both trusted her boys and forced her boys to forge their own path. But this cold demeanor of his, built from everything he's faced in Greece, coupled with his Spartan childhood, it spills over into the way that he raises his son. Kratos only knows love through protection, through power. His love was shown through hunting, but these are the duties that parents inherently take on when they have children. Along with protection, a child needs to feel loved. Kratos is not ready to take on the role that Faye played in Atreus' life. He doesn't feel worthy enough to. He doesn't feel worthy enough of his son's love. Kratos can barely place a hand on his son's shoulder. He cannot hug him. He cannot affirm him verbally. Kratos is ashamed of himself and of his nature. So he keeps Atreus at bay. It's why he calls Atreus boy, and not son. It's why he calls him boy and never by his name, Atreus. And while he doesn't want to tell Atreus of his greatest failures as a parent, and he doesn't want to confront it, it is these very experiences that make Kratos the parent that he is. It makes him overprotective, strict, and careful. He's so scared. He's so desperate. And yet, Kratos does not want to let his son in, out of fear of Atreus becoming just like him. But after his illness spreads, and having seen the relationship that Balder and Freya have, who parallel a possible version of himself and Atreus, he realizes that he must face down who he is, he must accept it, in order to heal his son, in order to raise Atreus properly and protect him. As we follow through to Ragnarok, all is still not well for the god of war. So much of his past trauma, again, his fear, still characterizes how he raises Atreus. He is still grieving his wife. That fear spills into his idea of trust. For Kratos, trust is something that is so valuable to him, and something that is so scarce in his life, once again because of his past. Kratos has trusted many people, he has trusted gods and mortals alike, and look where that left him. Kratos is trying to instill into Atreus that trust is not just a word to be thrown around, but one that has meaning and value. Kratos trusted Ares, that led him into being tricked into killing his family. Kratos trusted Athena, that led to Kratos' self destruction. Kratos trusted the Titans, he ended up only being their weapon, their pawn. And even after all of this, Kratos is still unable to fully grasp what trust truly means, and what it looks like. Freya says that she let her needs and her fears get in the way of what her child needed. It led to a lifetime of Balder resenting Freya. Kratos and Ragnarok is in that same predicament with Atreus. What Atreus needs is what every child needs. Trust, trust to be able to have their own secrets, trust to be able to do things on their own, to forge their own path. The trust to be able to make mistakes. Kratos as a god and as a father is still so afraid of what could happen to his son. The Spartan has seen it countless times, right? A god drunk off their own power, a god who takes what they desire, a god who is devoted to violence and wrath. He saw glimpses of it in Atreus when he killed Modi, that inflated sense of ego that often comes with godhood. All of it is pressure on the young god, it's so much pressure. Not only does Atreus have to find out who he truly is and what he is supposed to be, and who he is supposed to be. He has to reach this impossible standard that Kratos has said for him. To add to that, he's been warned by Mimir and Freya. Sure, he said that he ended the cycle by killing Balder, but that doesn't guarantee its ending. It doesn't guarantee that Atreus would never resent him. Kratos does not fear his son killing him, he does not fear his son in any capacity. He fears the possibility of Atreus one day resenting him, leading him to become a man similar to what he was. Similar to the man that he is, a man whose heart has been closed off. A man willing to do anything and sacrifice everything to succeed in their goal. A man like Sparta's great Kratos. The weight of Kratos' expectations of his son get too heavy, Atreus is driven away by the Spartan because Kratos has robbed him of his freedom. When Atreus learns that he is low-key, Kratos is quick to enclose Atreus in a box, in a singular identity. Atreus is Kratos' son and nothing more. He is not allowed to be anything more, but it is not what is right for Atreus. Kratos' lack of faith in him has forced Atreus to lie and to deceive his father in order to gain some semblance of control over his life. It is Kratos' fault. And what's so powerful is that Kratos catches himself falling into his old ways. When Atreus comes back and he is set garm-free, when he makes a mistake and is berated by everyone, Kratos is the only one who doesn't scold him for it. He instead calmly helps him fix it. Against all of the scolding that Kratos does, this felt like a warm act of love, of kindness, in his son's most trying moment. It's so important for parents to also hold themselves accountable. Kratos learns to say some of the hardest things a parent can say to their child. And in those words, in his actions, we can see his growth. Kratos is now able to hug his child in this game, to hold him. He now feels worthy enough to. Like many things that Kratos has had to learn as a parent, trust is an act of love and respect. The greatest trust you can place into your child is letting them become whatever it is that they want to be, whoever they are supposed to be, even if you don't understand it. You have to trust in their vision, trust in their instinct. And ultimately, you have to trust yourself, trust in your own teaching. In tandem with his own guidance, Kratos needed to trust FaZe, FaZe's presence that permeates throughout these games. The memories that Kratos has of her are so powerful and moving. Her hand that is on every part of this story. From Brock and Sindri to Thor and Vanaheim. She had her faults, but what comes up most often of FaZe is her empathy. That willingness to help others that Atreus has, it's from her. That is what Kratos has to live up to. A woman known as Laofae the Just, but he also learns that it's his job to build their son up to be able to have the strength to help others. Kratos in the first game teaches Atreus to close his heart to others. On our journey we will be attacked by all manner of creature. Close your heart to their desperation, close your heart to their suffering. Do not allow yourself to feel for them, they will not feel for you. From Kratos' past, it makes sense, with the gods he had to. He was manipulated time and time again by fickle gods, fickle creatures, and fickle people. His heart needed to be closed off as it was the only way he could survive this long. Anyone Kratos was truly acquainted with died either by his hand or by these fickle gods. Alisto, Lysandra, Deimos, Kaliope, Pandora. He had no friends, no family, and his soul was soul the long time ago. Closing his heart was a survival tactic that he brought into parenting to avoid meddling in affairs that could end up hurting them. But then Atreus meets Brock, in sinjury. He latches on to Freya, and he asks Mamira a million questions, a found family forms rather quickly. Kratos did not have many friends, and he lost his only brother, and yet he reaches a point to be able to call Mamira his brother, to call Brock his friend. Atreus has given him all of these people, this family, simply with his mere presence, with his radiance. It's this very community that has helped Kratos raise Atreus. That is FaZe teaching, it's FaZe guidance coursing through him every time he reaches out to help another. And Grupota, Skiyldar, Throod, even Fenrir, Sveckian Spana, how he's so easily able to feel what the animals are feeling. And then Brock dies. Atreus then tries to close his heart to a friend, to family, by running away. That's the only way he's been taught to process traumatic events, by closing his heart instead of feeling it. Though Kratos is there to make sure his son can process his grief, but during Ragnarok, when Indecents die, he actually tells himself to close his heart to it. And Kratos is there every time, and he watches Atreus slowly become like him, as he calls the dying Asgardians, the dying people, sacrifices of war. But Kratos makes a decision. When Kratos says open your heart to their suffering, he's not telling Atreus that he is different from him. The Spartan tells his son that he was wrong all this time. Atreus has taught him what it is to be a man, what it is to be a good person. When I say feel everything, when Kratos says open your heart, he realizes that all this time, in order to be a better parent, in order to be a better man, in order to be like Fae, he needs to be empathetic. He needs to be like Atreus. Atreus taught him what it is to truly be a god. To be a good man is to open one's heart to others. To be a good god is to use one's power to aid those who are suffering. Kratos was the ghost of Sparta, the god of war, a man who believed that his life was destined for eternal suffering. A man who believed he could never be anything more than a monster. Again, a man whose hands have never saved anything, hands that were chained to blades that killed his own wife and daughter. And for the last time, I want to think about Kratos staring at his hands on that bed, the hands that spilled so much blood. Because in the end, these hands saved so many people and so many creatures. He has forged his path. Now he is a god who prevents war, no longer a god who starts it. A man who has finally lived up to Fae's expectations of him. A man who has lived up to Atreus' expectations. An emotional Kratos said that what they seek against Odin is not justice. It is vengeance. Every path I walk leads back to vengeance. The Norns told him that he was unable to change, that his choices would never change. And I'm sure he felt that reality caving in on him after he killed Heimdall. But Kratos made a choice, he made a few choices. By stopping Thor without killing him, by stopping the war and targeting Odin directly While saving the Asgardians, these actions, these choices were of a man who has tried so hard to stray from the path of war, from the path of vengeance. A man who has tried so hard to be better. And this, this is proof that he finally succeeded. He can finally see what he has become, who he has become. A god revered by all, loved by all. This is Kratos, a monster no more.