Yeah, that's what I thought.

About halfway through God of War III (or so I assume, as I'm still playing it), Kratos enters Poseidon's Chambers to encounter Poseidon's Princess (link NSFW), who is chained to the floor and apparently serving as a type of love slave for the god Poseidon. To say that Hecuba Maneros (as Playboy apparently called her) is scantily clad is a vast understatement: she wears a blue garment that utterly exposes her huge breasts and one almost pities her for the position she's in. Hecuba is utterly terrified of Kratos, however, which is quite understandable since he's already done many unspeakable things to other mere mortals who were simply in his way.

Throughout the following scenes, as Kratos pushes her into each successive room--both protecting her and violently shoving her--any seasoned player of the God of War games begins to wonder if Hecuba will be the latest subject of the series' infamous sex mini games. I bring this up since this thought is disturbing in many ways, chiefly because Hecuba--in contrast to every other person Kratos has slept with--would be an unwilling participant. She clearly fears Kratos deeply, but every now and then Kratos sneaks a glance at her that reveals that the thought may indeed be on his mind. Here, in the midst of heads and eyes getting ripped out, entrails being pulled out, and innocent, frightened men getting their heads bashed into a wall, it appears that we may also see a rape. Or a "normal" sex scene, if she eventually proves grateful and is willing, but something will still seem wrong about it.

Yet this never happens.

Kratos accords Hecuba the same dignity that he extends to everyone: he safely sees the princess to the end of the corridor, whereupon he ties her to a heavy wheel that he has just finished turning all the way, forcing her to hold it up while he gets through the gate. Kratos then slips through the gate and behind him you hear the sound of the princess' strengthgiving out as she's crushed by the weight of the wheel out of sight.

Business as usual, right? Perhaps not so much. Just the other day a friend mentioned a story surrounding the sex mini-game of the first God of War (amusingly, he lacked the skill to finish it). After telling a nephew of his that he was playing it, the nephew apparently said "But there's sex in that game," as though that were more horrible than all the endless crimes against humanity, the animal kingdom, and the gods that we encounter in the series. Heads may get graphically ripped off, innocent people may be killed, but heaven forbid we have sex in the same game.

I think the folks at Santa Monica Studios are playing off of this strange conflict of ideas in this scene. In the end, shockingly, it almost comes as a relief that Kratos "just" killed her. "Why, he's not such a bad guy after all," we're seemingly supposed to think. In fact, the trophy that pops up after this scene is called "I Didn't Do It… But I Wish I Did." Kratos does eventually get his moment in bed with a very willing participant, but I think the Poseidon's Princess incident is meant to be a brutal satire on the conflicting views toward sex and violence in video games. It's OK to kill hordes of people, but sex of any kind is still very taboo.

I realize that I am opening a Pandora's Box of my own in asking this, but what are your thoughts on this? Is this truly a satire? If it's not satire, is it a demonstration that rape should be considered much worse than straight, in-your-face violence? Am I wrong in thinking that rape was even possible? I'd like to know what you think.