 Gods of Olympus have abandoned me. Now there is no hope. At the beginning of Valhalla, it's clear that Kratos still has much to work on, much to heal from, especially when it comes to the perception of himself and his past, one that he has been running away from. As Freya has offered him a chance to become the god of war for all the realms. Kratos simply cannot see himself as the right person for this position, given what that very seat has done to him, and so he goes to Valhalla to answer the question of whether or not this role is the right one for him. Early on, Kratos projects much of his own self-loathing beliefs onto others. He mentions to Mimir that Freya doesn't value him, she only finds him useful. And Valhalla, the manifestation of Kratos' mind, his memories, his fears, his failures, all aim to remind him of the type of person that he truly is, at his core. Kratos in these self-hating moments is almost desperate for someone to judge him, and to deem him unworthy. Personally, I think he yearns for that. He doesn't want to be the one to make this decision, he wants someone to tell him that he does not deserve it. The ghost of Sparta's mind even manifests the judges of his homeland. The Ashen warrior says that he has been running from the throne, from that title, for so long, and Kratos has anxiety and rightful hesitance when it comes to dealing with his Greek self. If Valhalla is a manifestation of his mind, Kratos is quite explicit in the way that he views himself. No matter how far he has come, the Spartan cannot see his growth. He cannot see the man that he has become, maybe because he doesn't want to forget the people he's around. So in comes Helios, another insertion of his subconscious to remind him of how cruel he was, to remind him of the amount of people he killed. Like grains of sand on a beach, he says. The ghost of Sparta can't dispel the talking Olympian because he knows he has no right to, given what he did to Helios. Kratos' mind, his immense guilt, lashes out at nearly every detail of the man he was. Helios points out the blades of Olympus that he still continues to use and benefit from, as well as the irony of some of the words he has uttered in his journey. Kratos is forced to reminisce about the key and his treatment of the boat captain, Kaliope's flute, and his choice to make Elysium their final meeting. He reflects on Lysandra, his first wife, whom he refused to listen to time and again. And even his own battles, all of these failures, all of these mistakes. But what Tyr tries to point out to the God is that he is a complex individual, that he was one. Even though vengeance was his driving force, there was still a bit of depth to the ghost of Sparta that was not just this animalistic rage, and rejecting or refusing to acknowledge that side of him is rejecting his very humanity. And that rejects his autonomy and thus deprives him of the fact that he made choices, which could even be more harmful. When Tyr shows him his deal with Ares, it's not for him to simply be reminded of his failure, but to examine why Kratos made the choices he did. Spartan ideals and beliefs were all he knew. Being Eurythus general and being known for his aggression was what he prided himself on. So calling upon Ares was to save his homeland, to stop his people from being killed and violated. Tyr then shows Kratos his execution of Helios and his sacrifice. These all serve as lessons for Kratos. And I love that Tyr is adamant and clear that these are not mentioned for Kratos to absolve himself or to excuse himself of his actions. He is clear that Kratos was wrong and was at fault, but these moments were not all that he was. Because Kratos has had these experiences already, because he's made his choices and recognizes the errors in them, he can now move forward with a level of clarity. These experiences make him the right person for the job because he now has the wisdom and vigilance to make the right choices. He now knows how to handle misfortune skillfully, just like he demonstrated in Ragnarok against Thor. And finally we get to Pandora, benevolent. Pandora has been in Kratos' heart and in his mind since that day, however many centuries ago. And Helios was especially hard on him because of the sacrifice of this girl. Pandora did not deserve to be a pawn. Skating reviews are given by the sun god. Kratos' internal dialogue is honest. The ghost of Sparta did not care about the consequences, he did not care about justification. His moral code was revenge and anyone who stood in his way was a casualty. So how could he even imagine himself as a trusted worshipped figure? But again, Tyr reminds Kratos that he sacrificed himself at the end of this story, releasing hope back into the world, all to say that the young Kratos was a complicated man. And the gameplay of Valhalla only adds to this introspection that Kratos is doing. Again and again, Kratos goes to fight the same enemies, to fight and to kill the living and the dead alike, and to journey into the past that he so desperately wants to separate himself from. Sometimes you get so close to the finish line and fail, only for the next attempt to be a miserable failure, not even close to the finish line, because there are still hang-ups from the last attempt. This is how the gameplay makes us feel for Kratos. How taxing, how exhausting it is to face down one's past self. It's incredibly difficult, it's time consuming, and it doesn't happen on the very first time he tries it. Kratos doesn't just finish Ragnarok and come out of it suddenly healed, because healing isn't linear. Some days are easier than others, some days you have to move backwards so you can move forwards. It's a true and honest re-examination of who that man was and who he is, and who he wants to be. After defeating Tyr for the fourth time, Kratos is now ready to walk through that door that haunts him, and his younger self waits for him, sitting on that throne. And like a Greek play, the older Kratos finally confronts his past, truthfully this time. And of course, he greets his younger self with so much hatred, and venom and anger, so much disappointment. What begins as an attack on the man in front of him quickly turns inward, introspection, as the camera focuses only on him. Kratos goes on to say that, This is such a potent line because the noons do not run on fate or destiny. They mention that there was no grand design, no big scheme, but people are predictable, people don't change. Kratos standing here is the sum of the choices he's made, the changes he's made, but if he's chasing a redemption he can never deserve, how can he lead people? What purpose is there if there is nothing to strive for? But then Pandora's statue catches his eye. Pandora who once sacrificed herself for the world, the one who inspired him to sacrifice himself, her words still hold weight for the Spartan, and he recites the same line she told him when she pleaded with him to believe in hope. If young Kratos lost everything and everyone, it was hope that propelled him forward from Greece to Midgard. If he was a man who truly never believed in hope, then what was he fighting for? It was nothing but hope that he fought with because he wanted something greater out of his life, something greater than carnage and destruction. He yearned for redemption. Tyr told him that hope still existed inside of Kratos after everything that happened, but still he struggles to see that in himself. He can only look at his younger form and disgust. The young Kratos is menacing. Even when he's on that throne uninterested, tired of his position, rage still seems to radiate from him. His eyes still appear to be so angry and vengeful. This is also the way Kratos views his past self, a cold and simple beast. As the older Kratos walks forward, his younger self sits up, as if he is ready for yet another battle. His eyes were filled with that anger, but it's only when Kratos gets up close and actually sees the man in front of him does he see everything that Tyr is talking about. Kratos has spent all this time running away from the man he was, never revisiting and accepting the harm he'd done, the monster he'd become. Going from you chose to I chose is such a perfect dichotomy between the two sides of Kratos, because he has no choice but to finally see himself in the man across from him. Kratos has finally realized that he and his past self are one in the same, not two separate people. The man in that seat informs everything that the current Kratos does. Every action is based on his experiences. As soon as he can see his current self in the man he was, as soon as he says I chose, the score transitions from Kratos' Greek theme into his Norse one, symbolizing his growth. But he's not done. What is it all for if he is chasing a redemption he can never deserve? How can he be anything else if he can never shake that feeling that he is a monster? How can he lead, proclaim, and take if he has been less than human, less than a man? All actions that require a level of respect, a level of morality. Place myself in service is set with so much vitriol because he knows what it's like to be in service of the gods. What horrors took place afterward? No one should be a pawn to anybody's schemes. How can he allow himself to even think that he deserves to be respected? This is how. Here he looks again at the statue like a revelation, and he says it's so much softer. He wants nothing more than to be a servant to the people, and Kratos no longer speaking to the man he was looks down, finally speaking to himself. This is acceptance that he is more now than the monster he was, except that you have been better. Kratos seems to understand that he must also be kinder to himself. He might never forgive himself, and I don't think he ever should, but now he can move on, and the large throne vanishes, only to be replaced by a smaller, more imperfect one. While afraid of the seed, Kratos slowly sits on the throne, now ready and with Mimir to help him. And as the camera pans out and the spotlight over Kratos is extinguished, it's like the ashes that have whitened his skin have faded. He's regained his color, he's changed. And look at the difference between the way the two sit on that throne. One sits on the throne as the god of war, bored and annoyed with his position. This one can't see anything past his own vengeance. He can't even imagine doing good things in that seed. And the other has redefined that throne. He has refined what that position means, sitting as the god of hope. Kratos' journey of healing is not yet complete, nor do I think it ever will be. But time and again this franchise has taught us that he's now more a man than he's ever been. And it's been mainly because of others, by accepting help, by asking for it, by changing. Kratos' journey has never been a lonely one, no matter how much he longed for it to be. Others have always aided him and guided him. Kratos has been offered a chance at redemption by so many around him. The guidance that Mimir has given him, the therapy that Tyr has afforded him, Faye who accepted him despite everything that he was, Atreus who loved him, by Brock, Sindri and Sigurd, afforded a chance at redemption by Freya, who lost her son to him, and yet she wants him to be her god of war. He's been given another chance by the very realms, by the people of these lands whom he saved. He can only redefine the meaning of that title, of that throne, because of Pandora from how many centuries ago. The monster made human has redefined what it is to lead. He has redefined for himself what it is to be a god. Kratos feels that he should not be someone to be worshiped. The people should never be in service to him like he was in service to the god of war and to other gods. No. Kratos' way to atone and to be better is to give himself in service to the people. Kratos has felt the worst emotions possible, tricked into killing his own wife and daughter. Now it's his duty to make sure that no one ever feels the way he did and that no one thinks they must do what he did in order to find peace. The Norn said that Kratos of Sparta would die and it's true he has died. Kratos of Midgard lives in that man's place. Watching Kratos' growth and reflecting upon his past made me question does Kratos deserve redemption, but then I realized this story is not about a man who deserves it. It's about a man who doesn't and has to grapple with that fact. He has to come to terms with it. It's about a man who doesn't deserve redemption and seeks it out anyways. A man who wants it so badly and in that pursuit, in that desire, he becomes something greater than he could ever imagine. God of Hope. Exactly how Pandora once saw him as. And as Kratos accepts his new role, his Greek and Norse themes are now intertwined with each other. Kratos' story is now complete.