The 'God of War' series is a prime example. The original Greek trilogy didn't really require background knowledge, nor was there much need to look for it. True to the games of that era, it was quite straightforward: Kratos, blinded by revenge, simply had to smash every mythological monster and god standing in his way.

However, the sequel series that began in 2018, set in the Norse world, is a different story.

Kratos, who once moved forward by destroying everything in his path regardless of the situation, now has a family, responsibilities, and something to protect. In Greece, he lived only for the day because his family and subordinates were all dead, but he could not do that after arriving in Midgard.

With this slightly complex setup, the developers breathed life into the two-part saga—'God of War' and 'God of War Ragnarök'—by masterfully adapting the original myths. It is done so well that those already interested in Norse mythology will find themselves nodding in agreement.

However, there is a limit to the fun you can have if you don't know the source material. That is why I have compiled this guide. For those who played without any knowledge of Norse mythology, here is the original lore and a look at how Cory Barlog and his team twisted and reinterpreted it.

In the Norse saga of God of War, the protagonist Kratos is a foreign god. Even a casual player likely knows this. Kratos is a Spartan general who traveled far north to the Scandinavian Peninsula—the setting of Norse mythology—after slaughtering the gods who used him under the guise of vengeance. While some, like Athena, pitied him or offered temporary aid, they all eventually met their end at his hands.

This global rampage left the Greek world of the game in ruins, as the gods governing every aspect of existence were wiped out. Kratos attempted to end his life to conclude this cycle, but failed, eventually drifting into Midgard. This means that, unlike many other characters in the game, Kratos does not appear in the original myths. The developers placed him in the role of Fárbauti, a figure with a vague presence and little recorded lore in the original texts.

In various Eddas, Fárbauti is depicted as Loki’s father and Laufey’s husband. The meaning of his name is striking: in Old Norse, Fárbauti translates to 'dangerous striker,' 'angry striker,' or 'sudden striker.' The noun fár carries connotations of hostility, danger, misfortune, or falsehood, while bauti means 'to strike.' Fárbauti is essentially a compound of these two words turned into a personal name—a fitting moniker for Kratos.

Once Kratos was assigned this fitting role, it naturally followed that his wife in this land would be 'Laufey,' and his son would be 'Loki,' the bringer of the end of Norse mythology.

Atreus, or Loki, the game's second protagonist, is also a deeply complex character. Loki is known for his duality in the original myths; while the Poetic Edda portrays him as a multifaceted being, the Prose Edda, influenced by Christian thought, emphasizes his more malevolent traits.

The attributes of Loki recorded in the original myths are as follows.

These attributes of Loki are all concentrated in Atreus, the game's version of Loki and Kratos' son. He reads runes for his illiterate father, is a demigod and half-giant (as the son of the god Kratos and the Jötunn Laufey), and possesses the ability to transform—at one point, in a fit of rage, he turns into a bear to pummel his father, and he also shifts into a wolf in front of Angrboða. As we will see, he also embodies the other traits of the mythological figure.

Laufey, the mother of Loki and a key figure in the sequel, is not treated as a major character in the original myths. A notable detail is that while Norse naming conventions were typically patrilineal, Loki is more often referred to as 'Laufeyjarson' (son of Laufey) rather than 'Fárbautison' (son of Fárbauti).

This gap—the lack of a specific narrative and the fact that she is considered more important to Loki than his father—allows Laufey to play a pivotal role. She is the reason Kratos and his son embark on their journey through her prophecies, but more importantly, she is the figure who most profoundly influenced the emotional evolution of Kratos. The Leviathan Axe, which Kratos uses throughout his time in the North, was originally hers.

In the 2018 God of War, Kratos exclusively uses the Leviathan Axe, drawing a line between his past and present by refusing to wield the Blades of Chaos, the weapons that serve as a mark of his past sins. The axe serves as a metaphor for his desire to separate himself from his history and commit to his current life—a life that originated with Laufey.

However, there comes a moment when Kratos must retrieve the Blades of Chaos: when his son Atreus falls ill, and he needs a way to repel the chill of Helheim. I personally consider this the most iconic and memorable scene in the 2018 game. In the process of retrieving the blades, Kratos is forced to face the past he had been avoiding, and ultimately, he overcomes it.

Through this process, Kratos shifts his reason for a 'new life' from his wife, Laufey, to his son, Atreus. Atreus evolves from being merely 'the child left behind from a perfect new life with his wife' to 'the only remaining trace of his wife and the reason to continue that new life.' Because the original Laufey had so little lore, she could be cast in a significant role that deeply impacts Kratos' story.

If the 'Kratos family' cleverly carved out a space in the gaps of the original myths, the major gods of Norse mythology underwent significant reinterpretation. The interesting part is the method of this 'reinterpretation': the developers did not grant the Norse gods new attributes. The characteristic of Norse mythology is that the 'Eddas' themselves are quite sporadic, making the personalities of the gods incredibly complex. The developers simply adjusted the 'angle of view' to depict the gods in the game.

Baldur, the final boss of the 2018 game whose first appearance was a massive shock, is the most beloved god in Asgard in the original myths. His mother, Frigg, doted on him so much that she made all things in the world swear an oath not to harm him. The only exception was mistletoe, which she deemed too weak and insignificant to bother with. This decision later becomes the reason Loki tricks Hödr (Baldur's brother) into killing Baldur with a mistletoe branch, triggering the start of Ragnarök.

In the game, Baldur appears as an immortal, but he is mentally unstable. No matter how much he is beaten, he cannot die, but he also cannot feel anything. With no pain or death, there is no danger; with life being too easy, there is no joy. In a state where all emotions have faded, only rage remains, directed at his mother, Freya, for making him this way.

This narrative of Baldur reinterprets the 'immortal' setting not as a mythological tale, but as a modern psychological drama. While the narrative process itself is quite different, the broad framework remains intact: Baldur is immortal, his mother tried to protect him but failed, and Baldur meets his end at the hands of Loki. This leads to the Fimbulwinter and the start of Ragnarök.

Baldur's mother, 'Freya,' is a special case. In the original myths, Baldur's mother is 'Frigg,' who is actually a separate goddess from Freya (though sometimes interpreted as the same). The game uses the setting that the two are the same person. Therefore, the game's Freya possesses both the attributes of 'Frigg'—Odin's ex-wife and Baldur's mother—and the attributes of 'Freya'—a Vanir goddess, Queen of the Valkyries, and a master of 'Seiðr,' the representative magic of Norse mythology.

This changes things. The narrative of 'Baldur's death and the path to revenge' and the narrative of 'helping Kratos and Atreus through Seiðr magic,' which would have been separate in the original myths, are tied together. This creates a character who is a Vanir goddess, has a tragic history due to a political marriage with Odin, and is a Valkyrie Queen who had her Valkyries taken away. It creates a highly complex and unique character who can be an ally to Kratos while also naturally clashing with him over her son's death.

As anyone who has played the game knows, the Freya in the game is depicted as a very complex and unforgettable character: friendly yet dangerous, blind yet human, and an enemy who is simultaneously a reliable ally.

'Thor' also received a unique modification. In the game, Thor is a great warrior who slaughtered countless giants on the orders of his father, Odin, but he is depicted as someone who drowns his guilt, the loss of his sons, and self-loathing in alcohol. This is similar to the story of 'Kratos,' who lost everything he held dear after being used by Zeus in the past; in the game, Kratos and Thor reflect each other like mirrors.

However, Kratos and Thor show a decisive difference in their 'period of change.' Kratos shows coercive and self-righteous aspects for a while after arriving in Midgard, but he slowly changes through his journey with Atreus and his interactions with various people. Seeing Atreus becoming violent, he tries to restrain his own violence and expands his narrow heart to accept others.

However, 'Thor' cannot escape the shackles of Odin. After losing his son Modi, he beats his other son Magni to death, and despite his family's pleas to stop drinking, he remains perpetually intoxicated. Only at the very end, persuaded by Kratos to become a better being, does Thor refuse Odin's orders and look back at his family, but it is already far too late.

As the developers said, 'Thor,' a god as powerful and unrivaled as Kratos, functions as another possibility and a mirror for Kratos in the game. Thor's narrative—a great warrior and god who achieved high military honors but lived only as he was told without his own choices, eventually meeting a tragedy—emphasizes the narrative of 'Kratos,' who awakens from a self-righteous warrior into a father, head of the household, and guardian through the many events he experiences in the game.

The interpretation of 'Odin,' the final villain of 'Ragnarök,' is also interesting. Despite being the main villain, Odin maintains a significant portion of the original settings without unexpected changes. The original Odin is depicted as a highly greedy wizard god full of thirst for knowledge. He sacrificed one eye to gain knowledge, hung himself from Yggdrasil, sacrificed himself to himself to discover the runes, and even cross-dressed to learn Seiðr magic—he stopped at nothing.

In this process, he foresees Ragnarök and becomes the protagonist of a self-fulfilling prophecy, falling into obsession and oppressing Loki's children, which leads to his own death. The Odin in the game maintains this personality of stopping at nothing for his goals and the mastermind attribute of knowing everything.

In the game, Odin's greatest goal is depicted as the 'monopoly of everything.' He collects all knowledge and prophecies for this reason, but there are still many things he does not know, and the existence of 'rifts' that he cannot see beyond is a source of torment. The reason he tries to use Atreus is not to stop these things, but because Atreus is the only being who can find and interpret the 'mask' that allows one to see beyond these rifts.

Furthermore, there is no 'good' in him. The countless ravens Odin uses in the game are created by torturing the souls of children offered as sacrifices. The original Odin also showed a destructive personality, intervening in human wars to manipulate victory or defeat to secure Einherjar (warriors of Valhalla) and intentionally causing the death of heroes he liked.

Many people are unaware of this due to the dignified appearance in the Marvel Universe or the wise image in other media, but Odin was a cold-hearted god in the original myths who prioritized only his goals, stopping at nothing. Because of this, unlike Thor, who was an object of respect among Viking warriors, Odin was considered a god closer to an object of fear.

The dignified father figure who taught Thor, "Are you the god of hammers?" is merely a Marvel creation. The original myths are closer to a god who stops at nothing for his goals and is somewhat distant from normal ways of thinking.

Contrary to what people often think, Loki appears in the original myths not as Odin's son, but as his blood brother, and the two are known to have met by chance during their travels. As the son of a Jötunn (giant, Fárbauti), he is of a different species from other gods, is very handsome, and has the ability to transform into every living creature in the world. He is the troublemaker of the Nine Realms and the god of lies and deception, just as in the original myths.

One of the most important things related to this 'Loki' is his three children: 'Fenrir,' 'Jörmungandr,' and 'Hel.' These three children are one of the most important elements of 'Ragnarök,' the finale of Norse mythology. As mentioned earlier, Odin hears the prophecy of Ragnarök while indulging in vast knowledge. This prophecy states that Loki's three children will oppose the gods of Asgard when Ragnarök occurs, so Odin and the gods of Asgard oppress and exclude Loki's children. This leads to Loki, separated from his children, turning against Asgard, with whom he was once close.

It can be seen as one of the 'self-fulfilling prophecies,' a common narrative structure that appears frequently in Greek mythology. Like the story of 'Oedipus,' where both father and son commit the very crimes they tried to avoid, only to end up committing them because of their efforts to escape the prophecy.

The Fenrir of the original myths appears as a wolf that is gentler than one might think. Although a wolf, he married a female giant and had two children. These two children are 'Sköll,' who chases the sun, and 'Hati,' who chases the moon. As mentioned, he had a fairly good personality and got along well with the gods of Asgard, mainly enjoying a strange game of being bound and breaking free. However, the gods who saw the prophecy tricked Fenrir with Gleipnir, a chain that could not be broken. When Fenrir, suspicious, demanded a guarantee, Týr put his hand into Fenrir's jaw, losing it. That is the lore of Fenrir being bound until Ragnarök. Of course, at Ragnarök, he achieves the feat of killing the highest god by swallowing Odin. Though he is killed immediately after by Odin's son, Víðarr.

In the game's universe, 'Fenrir's' first appearance is in the first scene of 'Ragnarök,' but there is a theory that the wolf that led 'Kratos' to Midgard was Fenrir. This is not depicted in the game but is known through the official novel. After Greece was destroyed, three giant wolves appeared before the wandering Kratos, subdued him (?), and dragged him to Midgard. Later, Kratos learns the identity of these wolves after seeing the lore about Sköll and Hati in Týr's storage.

And, in 'Ragnarök,' the birth of 'Fenrir' is shown. He was an ordinary wolf, but at the moment of his death, Atreus unknowingly stores Fenrir's soul in a dagger. Later, in the process of subduing 'Garm,' the guard dog of the entrance to Helheim, Atreus stabs the dagger into Garm's head, allowing Fenrir's soul to enter Garm's body. Thus, Fenrir is born—possessing a massive body and claws that can tear through dimensions, but acting like a country puppy. Though he doesn't swallow Odin like in the original myths.

There is an interesting part of this 'Fenrir' setting that follows the original myths: looking at the lore of 'Garm,' the guardian of Helheim, there is a description that when Ragnarök occurs, Garm's loud howling serves as the trigger for Fenrir to break his shackles and be freed. In terms of the situation, this is correct. Garm is subdued with a scream, and Fenrir regains a body and is freed.

Summarizing the situation, Fenrir is not depicted as the physical offspring of Loki (Atreus). However, both Loki and Angrboða contribute significantly to Fenrir's birth: Loki is the one who stored Fenrir's soul and transplanted it into Garm's body, and Angrboða is the one who inspired this soul magic by showing Loki the soul marbles of the giants. Though it appears that he uses the ability unknowingly when storing Fenrir's soul.

'Jörmungandr' is also depicted in a similar form. The Jörmungandr of the original myths appears as a serpent that is thrown into the deep sea as soon as it is born, grows endlessly, clashes with Thor, and eventually dies with Thor at Ragnarök.

In the game, it is depicted that while Atreus and Angrboða are searching the house of Angrboða's grandmother, 'Grýla,' they breathe the giant's soul they possess into a dying giant serpent, giving it life. It is not a physical offspring born from the efforts of Atreus and Angrboða, but they are the ones who provided the catalyst for Jörmungandr to gain life and survive.

The original setting that Fenrir and Jörmungandr are Loki's offspring led to the setting that they are creatures born through the efforts of Loki and Angrboða, even if not biological children. 'Hel,' the only daughter among the three children in the original myths, is not depicted in the game; instead of Hel, 'Hræsvelgr' guards Helheim, the realm of Hel.

Various hypotheses follow this 'Hel,' and here, a very interesting game-only setting is added. Both 'Fenrir' and 'Jörmungandr,' the creatures of Loki and Angrboða, are beings who have experienced time travel.

First, 'Fenrir' appears in the role of dragging 'Kratos' to Midgard, as mentioned above. Chronologically, this is before Fenrir, and even before Loki existed, yet Fenrir appears. Jörmungandr, when Ragnarök occurs, confronts Thor with his massive body like in the original myths, but Thor's attack is so powerful that it cracks Yggdrasil (the World Tree), and Jörmungandr is sent flying into the past through space-time by this attack.

The giant serpent Jörmungandr encountered in God of War (2018) is the very 'serpent that was hit by Thor during Ragnarök and flew through space-time.' Perhaps because of the memory of being hit by Thor, he tries to eat Thor as soon as he sees his statue, and he shows an active role in the final battle against Baldur. Later, in a conversation with Mimir, it is revealed that this Jörmungandr came from the future, saying he came to the past while fighting Thor at Ragnarök. Perhaps to prevent a collision with his past self, the giant Jörmungandr does not show his face at Ragnarök.

'Hel' has not officially appeared yet, but considering that the other two offspring from the original myths appeared with the setting of time travel, there might be another form of narrative prepared for 'Hel.' Though no one knows if we will see it in the future.

The twilight of the gods, 'Ragnarök,' the finale of Norse mythology, also has room for examination. The original 'Ragnarök' begins with four omens after the death of 'Baldur.' The extreme winter 'Fimbulvetr' lasts for three years, the 'Age of Wolves' arrives with rampant incest and fratricide, Sköll and Hati eventually swallow the sun and the moon, and as the three roosters of the Nine Realms and Garm begin to howl, the forces of Jötunheim and Valhalla are summoned.

God of War (2018) depicts 'Baldur's death,' the first omen of Ragnarök. The process is quite different, as he dies at the hands of Kratos rather than Höðr, but the act of causing Baldur's death with mistletoe is performed by Loki (Atreus), just like in the original myths.

In the following 'God of War Ragnarök,' you can see the full-scale signs of Ragnarök; the game begins during the extreme winter, 'Fimbulvetr.' Afterward, Atreus and Kratos conflict over how to deal with the situation, and Atreus transforms into a bear, showing the 'Age of Wolves' in a somewhat metaphorical, albeit short, way.

Sköll and Hati were imprisoned by Odin's scheme, and even the 'moon,' Hati's target, was hidden, but Kratos and Atreus retrieve the moon in Vanaheim and release Sköll and Hati. In the process, the problem of Vanaheim, which was suffering from overgrowth of plants due to the endless daylight, is also solved. The roosters aren't really depicted... but Garm howls. Because he was beaten so much by Kratos.

However, the result of this 'Ragnarök' is completely different in the original myths and the game. If the original Ragnarök led to the end of the entire world and the opening of a new era, the game's Ragnarök is reduced to the 'end of the order built by Odin.'

To properly see this change, we must consider two attributes: the 'prophecy' that is the original source of Ragnarök, and the 'message' the game intends to convey.

In the original myths, the first being to prophesy Ragnarök is an unnamed prophetess, referred to as 'Völva' in Old Norse. In the first poem of the 'Poetic Edda,' 'Völuspá' (Prophecy of the Völva), Odin hears from the prophetess about the birth of the world, the fate of the gods, Ragnarök, and the world thereafter. Afterward, Odin's preparations, stopping at nothing to prevent Ragnarök, begin, and he takes on a paranoid and ruthless aspect.

In the game, Odin learns of Ragnarök through the prophecy of a figure named 'Gróa.' However, Gróa only conveys an incomplete prophecy, and the real prophecy is hidden in his sanctuary in Alfheim. Just like 'Fárbauti' and 'Laufey' earlier, they made a figure with no major narrative in the original myths a key character.

And there is another device. The three Norns met during the game are prophets who read the past, present, and future, respectively, and they say this about prophecy: "Prophecy is not seeing the future. It looks that way because you always make the same choices."

Ultimately, the concept of 'prophecy' in the game is closer to the 'most likely reality' inferred based on a person's tendencies and essence, rather than an unfathomable power to see the future. And here, the core message the game intends to convey is added.

'We must be better'

This is the ultimate message that the Norse two-part saga of 'God of War' intends to convey. Kratos, who used to coercively point out 'be better,' begins to act altruistically to become a better person himself, and eventually even smiles. Kratos, who would have turned Thor into 'Thor' (a pun on 'to/re' in Korean) with his original personality, says to Thor, who self-deprecatingly says we are just destroyers.

"No longer. We must stop. We must be better for our children."

As such, by becoming a 'better being,' the prophecy in the game is naturally broken. Because the essence has changed from the Norns' method of prophecy, which is 'inference based on a person's essence.'

Freya lost her son, but she suppressed her desire for revenge and stepped forward for a greater cause and the Vanir gods, becoming a better being. Atreus blindly followed the prophecy and set out to find 'Týr,' but he turns away, rejecting the prophecy in the mural in Jötunheim that he would remain by Odin's side. 'Týr' is a god of war, but he does not want war. He, who appears after the ending, has already become a 'better being' and acts (?) as Kratos' psychological counselor.

In this process of Kratos and Atreus becoming better beings together with countless people through their journey, only Odin does not change. Throughout the game, he seeks knowledge, stops at nothing for it, and views everyone else merely as tools.

Because he could not change, Odin could not even prevent the realization of the fake prophecy and meets his ruin. However, those who chose to become better beings meet a result different from the prophecy. 'Laufey' defacing the prophecy of Jötunheim was because she wanted her husband and son not to believe in the prophecy but to become better beings through their own choices. The fact that 'Kratos,' a god who was not worshipped by anyone, eventually becomes the guardian god of the Nine Realms, not death, is also because they did not follow the prophecy but became better beings through their own choices.

Therefore, the Ragnarök of the original myths, an unavoidable ruin, struck only Odin, who was the only one who could not change.

'Becoming a better being, and that only then can we create a better future' was ultimately the message this game intended to convey, and the core of the grand narrative spanning two parts.