Kratos

Overview

Kratos is the Spartan protagonist of the God of War games. He is well known for the extreme acts of violence he is capable of, and for his signature weapon, the Blades of Chaos, two short blades attached to his arms by long chains, allowing for some very acrobatic and very brutal combat. These blades were first granted to him by Ares, the god of War. After betraying Ares and subsequently losing the blades, Kratos is given the Blades of Athena which function identically to the Blades of Chaos. The name Kratos is derived from the minor god in greek mythology called Cratos, though Kratos shows little in common with the character apart from his initial loyalty to the Gods. The word "Kratos" means 'power' in Greek.

History

Background

Bloody Kratos

Kratos was once a general in the Spartan armies, and he was well known for his ruthlessness. His army had been undefeated until they stood against the mighty Barbarians. After a long and bloody battle Kratos lay before the Barbarian King utterly defeated, his soldiers' blood flowing around his prone body. As the Barbarian swung his hammer, Kratos shouted to the heavens, pledging his life to Ares in return for the power to defeat his enemies. In that moment Kratos became Ares' servant, endowed with the power of the Blades of Chaos. Using these new weapons, he easily cut down the Barbarian King and stood victorious. But this power came at a price. As Ares' servant Kratos led his army to many victories, blindly following the God of War's orders he burned and pillaged a village, personally murdering everyone within the local temple of Athena. When his bloodlust had finally passed, he looked down to see the bodies of his wife and daughter, their blood on his hands. Horrified, Kratos vowed revenge on Ares, who calmly explained that he had arranged for this to happen so that Kratos would have no other motivation than to serve him. As the bodies of his loved ones burned, Kratos was cursed by the village's Oracle to forever carry the evidence of what he had done with him; as she spoke the ashes of Kratos' family carried by the wind magically attached themselves to Kratos' skin, making him unnaturally pale and giving him the title "Ghost of Sparta".

For many years, he serves the other gods, with their promise that when he had satisfied them, they would remove the terrible memory of what he had done from his mind.

God of War

In God of War he agreed to help Athena defeat Ares, who was personally besieging her most beloved city, Athens. Kratos agreed on the sole condition that the gods would finally ease his pain and remove his nightmares. Agreeing, Athena told Kratos of Pandora's Box, an ancient artifact that could grant Kratos the power to defeat a God. After making his way to the Temple of Pandora, Kratos survived many challenges, including escaping from Hades itself after he was killed by Ares. Persevering, Kratos finally managed to find Pandora's Box and unleash its power, allowing him to slay his former master. However, while the gods were grateful for Kratos' assistance, it was revealed that his crimes were so terrible that not even the gods of Olympus could erase them from his mind. Distraught that the death of Ares had not stopped his nightmares, Kratos tried to take his own life but was saved by Athena and offered him the position that had just opened up in Olympus, and replacing his Blades of Chaos, which had been lost when Ares had died, with almost identical weapons known as Athena's Blades. As the new God of War, Kratos looked over the world and whenever there was hatred in man's heart for his fellow man he was there to fuel it.

God of War II

Kratos as the God of War

In God of War II Kratos returned as the new God of War, showing obvious favouritism to the armies of Sparta, leading his brethren to many victories. As he descended from Olympus to help his army take the city of Rhodes, an enchanted eagle breathed life into the immense statue known as the Colossus of Rhodes, and attempted to steal all of Kratos' godly power. Although it failed, it still shrunk Kratos to human size. Kratos believed it was Athena who had arranged this, after she had warned him not to continue sacking cities for Sparta. After fighting the Colossus numerous times and loosing, Kratos was advised by Zeus to use the Sword of Olympus to take down the Colossus. Draining all his godly powers into the sword, Kratos managed to destroy the giant but was left mortal and defenseless, allowing Zeus, who had been the true culprit of the attack on Kratos, disguised as the eagle, to kill him and send him to Hades. Betrayed and murdered once again, he was awoken by the voice of Gaia the Titan, as she told him of the only way to defeat the King of the Gods, to go back in time and retrieve the Sword which contained his godly power. After fighting his way out of Hades, Kratos traveled to the Island of the Fates where he fought his way through challenges even more dangerous than those in the Temple of Pandora. Ultimately, Kratos killed the three Sisters of Fate, allowing him to go back in time to the moment when he was murdered by Zeus. Retaking the sword, he fought Zeus, almost ending his life when Athena suddenly jumped in front of her father and took the mortal blow for him, explaining in her last moments that Zeus was in fact Kratos' father, and that he had always feared that the son would overthrow the father, the same way he had overthrown his own father Cronus, leader of the Titans. Zeus managed to get away as Athena died, but Kratos, traveling through time once again, soon returned to Mount Olympus with the power of all the Titans by his side, this time vowing to kill each and every God on the mountain.

God of War III

Kratos' journey picks up in God of War III right where he left off in the previous game. Climbing Mount Olympus with the Titans, Kratos vows to kill Zeus and anything standing in his way, starting with the God of the seas, Poseidon. Killing Poseidon results in massive floods that blanket all the cities below Olympus.

Making his way to the top of Mount Olympus with Gaia, an angry Zeus quickly sends the pair tumbling back down the way they came, with Gaia betraying Kratos to save herself, and Kratos once again ending up in Hades, realm of the dead, with all of his powers stripped. There he meets the ghost of Athena, who gives him a new set of blades: the Blades of Exile. She explains she also wants Zeus dead, but her motivations are not entirely clear. Making his way through Hades, Kratos ends up fighting and killing the lord of the realm, Hades himself. Doing so releases all the souls of the dead into the realm of the living. Kratos also encounters Hephaestus, the smith god, whose daughter Pandora has the ability to enter the Flames of Olympus, which contains Pandora's Box, the key to killing Zeus, according to Athena. Kratos sets out to find her, but she's trapped by Zeus in a huge labyrinth created by Daedalus in order to prevent anyone from using her to open Pandora's Box again. On his way to Pandora's Labyrinth, Kratos encounters (and kills) several more Olympians, starting with Helios, the Sun god. Killing him causes a thick bank of clouds to perpetually cover the sun's light. Kratos also runs into Gaia once more, who is hanging on to the side of Olympus. Her arm is damaged, however, and for her betrayal Kratos cuts off her hand and sends her plummeting, seemingly to her death.

Next up is Hermes, the Messenger god, whose death causes a plague of insects to swarm the lands. Upon returning to Hephaestus, the Smith god tricks Kratos into fighting the Titan Cronos, to obtain a rare ore. Upon his return, a surprised Hephaestus tries to kill Kratos with the weapon he created for him, because he doesn't want Kratos anywhere near his daughter. Kratos makes short work of the Smith god and returns to Olympus, his new weapon allowing him to open new paths. Kratos then encounters Hera, Zeus' wife, who sics Zeus' bastard child Hercules on him. Kratos kills Hercules and obtains his weapon of choice, the Nemean Cestus, two lion-shaped gauntlets with immense power. When Kratos later encounters Hera again, he breaks her neck, causing all plant life to wither and die. This finally allows him to access Pandora's Labyrinth.

Kratos traverses the Labyrinth and manages to escape with Pandora, taking her to the Flame of Olympus. Upon their arrival, though, Kratos realizes he won't let her sacrifice herself to kill Zeus and insists they find another way, but Pandora sacrifices herself regardless. Kratos opens the box, but there is nothing inside. Zeus and Kratos do battle, and Kratos kills both Zeus and Gaia in one attack, battling inside of Gaia's heart. However, the Spirit of Zeus has survived and he attacks Kratos, seemingly killing him, but actually sending him inside of his own mind. Kratos, slowly realizing he is a destructive force to everything around him, from his family to Pandora to the very world he lives in, returns to life and kills Zeus for good. Athena appears and explains that what Pandora's Box actually contained were the powers of Hope and Fear. Fear gripped Zeus, which led to him becoming obsessed with the death of Kratos out of fear that he would come after him, and it also led him to banish Hephaestus to Hades and imprison Pandora. Athena wants to inherit the power of hope for herself so she can rule the world. Kratos, however, realizes there is only one way to redeem himself. There's one last person responsible for the tragedies of his life, and that is himself. He impales himself on the Blade of Olympus, killing himself and releasing the power of Hope to the entire world.

In a post-credits scene, Kratos' corpse is gone and there is a trail of blood leading off-screen, hinting at his survival.

Appearances in Other Games

Behold, Kratos in his strangest form A Sackboy designed to look like Kratos, along with a Sackgirl designed to look like Nariko from Heavenly Sword, were Gamestop pre-order bonuses for LittleBigPlanet. Kratos appears as the Guest Character in the weapons-based fighting game Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny for the PSP. Kratos is also a playable character in Hot Shots: Out of Bounds. Kratos is a playable character in the PS3 version of the 2011 Mortal Kombat reboot. He is not playable in the game's story mode, but is fully playable in head-to-head matches and arcade mode and has his own unique movelist and Fatalities. Kratos was a GameStop pre-order bonus for Modnation Racers on PS3 that included himself and his own special kart. He has since become available for purchase on PSN for $1.99.

Personality

Kratos getting his murder on

A man with very obvious anger issues, Kratos seems to be permanently enraged. Being betrayed by pretty much everyone he meets doesn't really help either. In the design process, Kratos was intended to look powerful and angry, showing little other emotion. This makes Kratos a violent antihero without any compassion whatsoever for those around him. Anyone who is unfortunate enough to be within a 50 foot radius of Kratos is doomed to have the business given to them - which, while sounding dangerous and horrible, is quite a good thing for the wider Spartan community as generally the only things that come into contact with Kratos are grotesque, bloodthirsty monsters and demons.

In Greek Mythology

According to ancient Greek myths, Kratos was the spirit of strength and power. There is also a Titan named Kratos in ancient Greek mythology who worked with the god Hephaestus on occasion.

Mortal Kombat (2011) Moveset

Special Attacks

• Apollo's Bow
• Head of Helios
• Hermes Dash
• Golden Fleece
• Zeus Rage

Enhanced Attacks

• Apollo's Inferno
• Helios Flash
• Hermes Rush
• Argos Ram
• Revenge of Olympus

X- Ray

Kratos attacks with his twin blades, cutting into his opponent's shoulders. He uses them to drag himself towards the combatant, and as he approaches, he removes them only to stick into the victim's torso, breaking several ribs. He them switches weapons to his Nemean Cestus, which shatters the opponent's skull and jaw in a powerful strike.

Fatalities

• Blade of Olympus - Kratos stabs his opponent much like his X-ray with his Blades of Exile turning them around on their knees, execution style, he pulls out the Blade of Olympus and slices his opponent vertically in half.
• Medusa's Gaze -Kratos pulls out the head of a Gorgon and uses it to freeze his opponent to stone, he then takes the Nemean Cestus and smashes his opponent to bits.

Voice Actor

Kratos has been voiced throughout the God of War series by Terrence 'T.C.' Carson.