God of War: Ragnarok - What New Mythology Could We Experience?

The God of War reboot brought us to the land of the mighty Norse Gods, on the eve of its destruction. On the eve of Ragnarok. And with the coming of the apocalypse, the ongoing journey of Kratos, Atreus, and Mimir will bring to life some wonderous adaptations of Norse mythology for us to experience. In God of War 4, we saw the awakening of Jormungandr and his hatred for Thor; we saw what became of the God Mimir, and lastly, Kratos saw to the end of Baldur, bringing about the eve of Ragnarok, and much more. Norse Mythology, much like other Mythos are vast, but what could we expect from this next entry? Let’s speculate.

Obviously, the Norse apocalypse of Ragnarok will be playing a large part in this entry, but how will it be adapted to the God of War series? In Norse myth, Ragnarok begins upon the death of Baldur as a dreadful 3 year long winter is brought about by his end; and the same applied in God of War. In the gameplay trailer, we see much of the land has frozen over, including the lake wherein the World Serpent lied. Speaking of which, the whereabouts of Jormungandr is unknown as his lake is completely frozen over as we see Kratos driving a sleigh over the serpent’s now frigid domain. Given the conflict in Norse mythology between Thor and the World Serpent, alongside its foreshadowing in God of War 4, we can most likely expect that Jormungandr will have a role to play in the anticipated conflict with Thor. The battle between the two will most likely epic and legendary, but will most likely take liberties in the form of Kratos and Atreus assisting the serpent in bringing about the God of Thunder’s inevitable downfall. However, it should also be noted that Jormungandr’s existence in God of War’s adaptation of Norse myth is a bit of a mystery, as he’s supposed to be the child of Loki, whom we now know is actually Atreus. Therefore, that poses several other questions that could be thrown into the picture. Is Atreus a reincarnation of a previous Loki? Will time travel be involved? Has all this happened before? Let’s hope to find out.

Concerning Atreus’s role in the new story, he made it clear that he wants answers as to who Loki is and his half-giant biology. However, his curiosity could be the cause of some concern as pointed out by Kratos when he retaliates to his son’s demands by pointing out that those answers could lead to war with the Gods, and if you know anything about Loki and Ragnarok, the actions of Loki were pivotal. It was Loki whom discovered the weakness Baldur had for Mistletoe, and it was Loki that ultimately caused his death, and thus the war of the Gods. Thus far, in God of War, Atreus has already caused the death of Baldur, and with his coming of age, perhaps he could discover more about the powers he could potentially have as well as his trickster nature. When Atreus finds out he is a God, his first question is “can I turn into an animal?”. Whilst this is an amusing child-like response to such a revealation, given that we find out Atreus is actually Loki, this question can become a lot more sinister. In various myths, Loki uses shapeshifting powers to morph into various peoples and animals to deceive and manipulate others. If Atreus gains these powers, I doubt he will be restricting himself to what his father wishes and will be the cause of many issues. Whatever the case, I have no doubt that Atreus is going to have some pivotal moments in the narrative of God of War: Ragnarok.

We also see that the boat has been replaced with a dogsled with wolves at the helm. Due to their grey and black sheens, we can presume that these wolves are supposed to be reminiscent of the Wolves, Skoll and Hati. These two wolves in both myth and God of War are supposed to devour the sun and moon respectively, bringing about darkness upon the world. If these wolves are meant to be Skoll and Hati, it would be very much interesting to see how the writers interpret this event in the game. There’s also another wolf of importance when concerning Ragnarok, Fenrir. The child of Loki, Fenrir is said to be the one that bit off Tyr’s hand as well as the killer of Odyn. However, of course, Loki is still a child here, and we have seen no sign of Fenrir. Regardless, Jormungandr is still present despite this, so perhaps we could still see Fenrir.

Once the ally of Kratos and Atreus, the distraught Freya mourns her son by seeking vengeance upon his murderers. She will be a main antagonist alongside Thor in this new entry, and we see one of the encounters we can hope to see in the gameplay trailer. Freya transforms into an eagle and reverts back plunging her blade in Kratos’s shield before being pushed back. Given her control of nature, I imagine we will see many large set pieces in the confrontations with her.

The long-awaited conflict between Kratos and Thor has been long anticipated, and I presume it will be similar to how the boss fights with Baldur went. A boss fight in the beginning ending in a stalemate with one or two more littered throughout various stages of the narrative, with the last most likely involving the world serpent dealing the finishing blow.  As Thor had been detailed as having wiped the giants out, and Baldur initially seeking our Atreus’ mother, Fae, due to her jotun nature, it’s reasonable to assume that Atreus will want to have answers from Thor, and those answers may lead Atreus down a dark path escalating the conflict, and thus, Ragnarok.

The Norse God of War, Tyr, previously believed to be dead, is shown to be alive in the gameplay trailer, and seeking him out appears to be the main objective of the game. Travelling through many of the realms seeking Odin’s prison in which the old God Tyr lies. Through Tyr, Kratos and Atreus seek to stop Ragnarok, and according to Atreus, “perhaps the only way to do that is war”. Seems a bit counter-productive, but we will see. When Tyr is revealed, we see no signs of any bite marks upon his hands, so perhaps the infamous bite of Fenrir will be something Atreus will instigate, given he is the father of Fenrir.

Santa Monica Studios revealed the name of the girl in at the end of the trailer, Angrboða. In Norse Myth, Angrboða is a giant and wife of Loki, as well as the mother of Fenrir, Jormungander, and Hel. So her inclusion within God of War is bound to create a love interest plot thread between her and Atreus, and if this saga continues in God of War 6, their interest in one another is bound to capture the attention of Odin.  

In the PlayStation blogpost, we now know that all 9 realms will visitable, including Asgard, Svartelheim, and Vanaheim. Presumably, Asgard and Vanaheim are going to be the concluding realms given that they are the homes of the Aesir and Vanir respectively. If we do not get to at least encounter Odin in Asgard and kill Freya in Vanaheim, I will be sorely disappointed. As for Svartelheim, I presume this is the verdant land we see in the trailer where within we can find our old Dwarven friends, Sindri and Brok. Whilst in myth, Svartelheim is described as being mainly subterranean, God of War does take liberties. Furthermore, it states that you will be exploring vast jungles and subterranean mining networks, so Santa Monica certainly haven’t completely disregarded the myths of the realm. Lastly, perhaps one of the most important realms, which in God of War 4 was more of a side activity, Muspelheim. Now that Ragnarok is beginning, Surtr and his fire giants will most likely spill forth from the realm and burn the world with his inferno. At the end of God of War 4, Mimir states that Surtr is destined to fall at the hands of Thorn and Odin, but what if Kratos has already killed them before this can happen? What if it is left to Kratos to kill Surtr? Perhaps Surtr arrives in Asgard just as Kratos is about to fight Odin and Thor for the final time, and we are given an epic set piece of Kratos, Atreus, Odin, and Thor versus Surtr before his flames turn Asgard to ash.

These were just some of the potential stories we could see in GoW: Ragnarok, but naturally, it’s important to remember that this is a loose adaptation of Norse Mythology, and the writers at Santa Monica will be taking many liberties with how they approach and adapt the various Norse myths. But what do you think? Do you think Atreus and Angrboða will get together? What do you want to see in this new entry?