I’m a sucker for mythology and one of the best aspects of the latest God of War game was how they have pivoted to Norse mythology and have taken their own stab at creating their own version of it for the Kratos universe. I have some ideas of what they could end up pulling from the existing mythology and possibly might add to future releases including the next one.
This article will include spoilers from the recent game, you’ve been warned.
God of War director Cory Barlog revealed to Kotaku’s podcast Splitscreen last year that he’s already thinking about the next five games and that since they had to start for scratch for 2018 release, it took longer than it normally should have. Cory alludes that it won’t take five years before the next release.
It’s expected that the next couple of games will continue to explore Norse mythology.
WHAT NORSE GODS WILL WE SEE IN FUTURE GAMES?
This, of course, being more in tune with actual Norse mythology and not the Marvel Comics mythology. However, Thor was teased at the end of the game which makes sense since Kratos kills his two sons Magni and Modi. Although they’ve been taking more a villainous twist to both Baldur and Odin, there is a possibility that Thor might also be darker and less heroic than his comic book counterpart.
Thor and Kratos facing-off in the next game seems like a foregone conclusion, but it’s doubtful he’ll be the only boss in the game considering the volume of Norse gods they could include in these games. After killing Odin’s son Baldur and Thor’s own two sons, Kratos is expected to incur the wrath of the Aesir and possibly other sons of Odin which could lend itself to an entire game’s worth of bosses and gods for Kratos to kill.
The Sons of Odin includes Thor (god of thunder father to Magni and Modi), Víðarr (the silent god that kills Loki’s child the wolf Fenrir at Ragnarök after he kills Odin), Váli (son of giantess goddess Rindr, kills his brother Höðr and blinds Loki with the entrails of his murdered son Narfi for their part in killing Baldur), Týr (Norse god of war in the game universe currently imprisoned by Odin), Höðr (blind god that is tricked by Loki to kill Baldur), Bragi (god of poetry), Hildólfr, Hermóðr (messenger of the gods), and Neper (father of Baldur’s goddess wife Nanna).
Others like the goddess Thrúd (daughter of Thor and Sif), Ullr (god archer and step-son of Thor), goddess Nanna (wife of Baldur and granddaughter of Odin), and Forseti (god of justice and reconciliation, son of Nanna and Baldur) could also want revenge as well.
Týr, if still alive could end up an excellent ally for Kratos. Not unlike Freya aka Witch of the Woods (Queen of The Valkyries and goddess of love/sorcery, who is trapped on Midgard by Odin), who helps Kratos and Atreus throughout their journey in the first game. Freya’s fellow Vanir gods such as her brother Freyr (god of verily and kingship) and father Njörd (god of the sea) could appear as well. Njörd is the patriarch of the Vanir gods and was a key participant in the Aesir-Vanir War.
Some fans believe the theory that Kratos and Týr are the same person.
Odin’s fellow established Aesir gods that could appear include Hoenir (god of silence, who helped Odin create humans) and Heimdall (god of foresight who is foretold to kill Loki during Ragnarök and is also a son of Odin).
Various Norwegian kings are also said to be descendants of Odin which could see some humans enter the fray as well.
It’s interesting that Loki, who is normally depicted as a villain could actually end up becoming an ally of Kratos and less of a foe, although notoriously the god of mischief and his kin could pose a threat as well and possibly betray Kratos if they attempted an alliance against the Sons of Odin (Loki is not the son of Odin) and Odin himself, who in the game seems to be a genocidal monster and lusts after power (along with keeping it).
In the game, it’s revealed that Atreus’ alternative name is Loki it’ll be interesting to see how that will play out and if Atreus will bring about Ragnarök. Will Atreus stay the same character or morph into the god of mischief in the sequel? The rub with the game is that they set their own rules for the mythology and could really go anywhere.
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Loki in Norse mythology is the son of goddess Laufrey (yes, goddess) and Fárbaut (a jötunn also known as the “cruel striker”) his jötunn brothers possibly are Helblindi (death-defier) and Býleistr (beekeeper). His children with the jötunn giantess Angrboda include Hela (ruler of the realm of Hel, attempts to resurrect Baldur and has a blueish skin tone), Jörmungandr (the giant Midgard Serpent that appears in the game), and Fenrir (the giant wolf that kills Odin). He also has a son Nafri with goddess Sigyn.
A fan possibly cracked the runes on the new God of War symbol using Elder Futhark, the runic alphabet, to possibly reveal gods.
Kratos eventually unleashing Ragnarök or another Aesir-Vanir War seems like a good bet to make if they truly want Odin to be their main antagonist.
COULD THERE BE MORE BOSS FIGHTS AND DLC NEXT TIME?
What could be different with the gameplay and game itself in the sequel?
One of the complaints about the game is that they seemingly scaled back on the boss fights due to the time and the number of developers needed to accomplish that. They had a bunch of unused ideas and bosses as pointed out by director Cory Barlog while speaking with Noclip.
We cut a lot of bosses. A lot. We had so much more. It was a much more ambitious, crazier, crazier game and then as you go through development you realize, ‘No this is too big. We can’t do this, right?’ One boss takes like 30 developers a year and a half. It’s an absolutely massive scale if you really consider it and you measure it against other games that we finished in a year and a half.
Barlog went on to speak with IGN and reveal that their plans for a DLC were also too ambitious for their first game.
“There was a time when I wrote a couple of DLCs that we were talking about. Ok, what if we did release some other stuff after? You know, there are interesting ideas but I think the amount of time we’d have to put into it, it would start to end up kinda like a [The Last Of Us] Left Behind or a [Infamous] First Light kinda thing where it’s just so big…like [Uncharted] Lost Legacy or something like that. I think I have a difficulty with the lower ambition portion, that I end up [saying] ‘maybe it’s a little too big!’”
