The death of iconic video game hero Kratos was sadly foretold in God of War (2023). Many expected the foreboding prophecy of this game to ring true in God of War Ragnarok, the direct sequel that continued your way of Kratos and his son, Atreus. But while threats were present in every aspect of the adventure, developer Santa Monica Studio held back on this predicted fate.
Warning: Light spoilers for God of War Ragnarok follow.
That wasn’t going to become the case, according to Matt Sophos, narrative director of Ragnarok. Speaking to MinnMax, Sophos confirmed intense deliberations at Santa Monica about whether Kratos would actually die in Ragnarok.
In one early draft from the game’s narrative, he did die – at the hands of Thor, god of thunder.
‘There was the earliest, earliest draft of an outline that we had develop … Kratos died within the Thor fight in the very beginning from the game,’ Sophos told MinnMax of Ragnarok‘s initial draft. ‘He was going to die, and then it wasn't a lasting death. What was going to happen … he would get pulled out of Hel, essentially, by Atreus … Two decades have passed. It was likely to be a large “time jump” type thing.’
According to Sophos, the direction was later shifted, as the team didn’t want to dampen the impact of death within the series. If Kratos would die, after which suddenly be resurrected with few consequences, the dire prophecy from the prior game might have felt throwaway. No death is better than a cheap death – also it appears Santa Monica found this realisation at the start of the narrative development process.
‘Eric [Williams, game director] was like, “I'd rather not do this, Kratos has died and come back from it too many times”,’ Sophos explained. ‘The hook, the emotion, wasn't really likely to be there. He was absolutely right and thus, this is exactly why this didn't last lengthy.’
The decision also had a major impact on the overall message of the game: that fate isn't locked in stone, which ‘nothing is written that can't be unwritten’.
‘If you are willing to make alterations in your lifetime you are not bound to fate,’ Sophos explained. ‘When we landed on that, when we know that was the story we wanted to tell. We knew that Kratos couldn't die.’
Rather than focussing on his death, and the rigid nature of prophecy, they wanted an uplifting narrative – one which spoke to the power of evolving, and also the rewarding nature of selecting your path forward, despite the consequences.
Going off the beaten track to inform a brand new story and subvert player expectations allowed Ragnarok to come to be an award-winning blockbuster now sweeping game nominations and hearts worldwide.
You can check out the entire MinnMax interview with Matt Sophos here.
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