MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR POTENTIALLY EVERY LEVEL OF GOD OF WAR.
So, felt like kind of putting this down after several different GoW discussions and videos that I've watched, and what it helped to sort of solidify in my head.
I know not everyone likes Atreus, I'm not trying to convince you you're wrong if you don't like him. I'm just putting down what I think is the reason, a lot of people, myself included, DO love him.
This will be mostly just thematic and emotional beats, and have less to do with the game itself.
So, for the most part, he is written like a regular kid, and most of us can empathize with being a kid, perhaps with a fractured home life, and a parent that we don't know how to interact with. Atreus is still young enough to love his father, but old enough to start pushing at the binds of obedience all children are expected to follow without question. The fact that he asks questions all the time, is the most common point of contention between him and Kratos. He is being dragged along on this journey, with someone who does nothing but growl at him, hinting at bigger things, that peak Atreus' interest, but then he is denied any explanation. Kratos just shuts up, growls "Boooooy!", and Atreus goes silent, but clearly frustrated. We all know this feeling. That boundary between childhood innocence and naivety, and the harsh knowledge of adulthood. But having your parents shut you down, "you're too young, you wouldn't understand."
This is of course compounded by the fact that Atreus will make decisions, and because of his lack of information, they are often wrong ones, and Kratos becomes angry at him for not seeing the right solution, when he has been intentionally kept in the dark. Further frustrating Atreus, and driving that rift deeper. But, he still loves his father, and he is still young enough, to likely see his father as a superhero, the strongest man in the world, a god in his eyes. It just so happens that he IS a god, and this just reinforces the hero worship he has for Kratos, and so he, naturally wants to emulate him. You this in lots of ways, from how eager he is to go on this adventure, once he gets a slightly bigger picture of what's going on. It's not just "going to scatter mom's ashes." He's literally being pitted against a pantheon of gods, and various mystical beasts, and realms he's only heard of in legend. This is literally a child's dream come true. To go off with their beloved parent, that the idolize, and live out the various battles and adventures he grew up on. We see him, in the first frame of Atreus, playing with action figures, playing out some epic battle of mythology. So it's something fun to him. How he gleefully hurls himself, literally, into ridiculous danger, because his father is doing it, says HE can do it too, and he wants to trust his father, and he just wants to do that stuff. To live out his fantasies is a dream come true.
This of course terrifies Kratos, because he knows the horrible things he's done, and so he's conflicted with simultaneously having to make his son as strong as a god, but also trying to keep him from knowing that fact.
But, by the end, when Atreus and Kratos are working in tandem, no more conflict, just supporting and helping each other, it's very satisfying. We get to see Atreus, actually do the things he is capable of. We get to vicariously thrill at seeing an ACTUAL CHILD, being strong, being powerful, being a force to be reckoned with, just like we all imagined we were, when we would play in our backyard, and pretend to be Superman or Wonder Woman. And the fact that, in a lot of let's plays of that game that I've watched, in the final fight with Baldur, when they let Atreus off the leash, and he becomes this little fucking badass, you can clearly see so many of them just light up with glee at the scene. They fucking love it. And I did too when it happened. He became an avatar, or spirit totem, for every kid, that leapt off a playground swing, and imagined it was a building. For every kid that played with their dog in the back yard, and pretended he was a mighty steed, or a fearsome dragon that needed to be slain. And it's great. It's so cathartic and appealing, and the fact that Atreus genuinely is a likeable kid (minus his obligatory angsty period), that is usually framed as the one in the moral right. He's the one that wants peace, he doesn't want conflict, he doesn't like learning of people killing each other.
And so we root for Atreus. We want him to get over his emotional instability, partly from his father, and partly simply because he's a kid, and doesn't know any better yet. We cheer when he acts like a Big Damn Hero, and actually has the skills and power to back it up. It's not some kid standing in front of Rhino, with a Spiderman pajama outfit on. No, this is a fucking god, a child yes, but still a god. With power and strength beyond mortal kin. We want him to grow up and be a good person, the same thing his father wants. We want to see him become something that we all still secretly wish for, in our little kid soul, to be a hero.
So, felt like kind of putting this down after several different GoW discussions and videos that I've watched, and what it helped to sort of solidify in my head.
I know not everyone likes Atreus, I'm not trying to convince you you're wrong if you don't like him. I'm just putting down what I think is the reason, a lot of people, myself included, DO love him.
This will be mostly just thematic and emotional beats, and have less to do with the game itself.
So, for the most part, he is written like a regular kid, and most of us can empathize with being a kid, perhaps with a fractured home life, and a parent that we don't know how to interact with. Atreus is still young enough to love his father, but old enough to start pushing at the binds of obedience all children are expected to follow without question. The fact that he asks questions all the time, is the most common point of contention between him and Kratos. He is being dragged along on this journey, with someone who does nothing but growl at him, hinting at bigger things, that peak Atreus' interest, but then he is denied any explanation. Kratos just shuts up, growls "Boooooy!", and Atreus goes silent, but clearly frustrated. We all know this feeling. That boundary between childhood innocence and naivety, and the harsh knowledge of adulthood. But having your parents shut you down, "you're too young, you wouldn't understand."
This is of course compounded by the fact that Atreus will make decisions, and because of his lack of information, they are often wrong ones, and Kratos becomes angry at him for not seeing the right solution, when he has been intentionally kept in the dark. Further frustrating Atreus, and driving that rift deeper. But, he still loves his father, and he is still young enough, to likely see his father as a superhero, the strongest man in the world, a god in his eyes. It just so happens that he IS a god, and this just reinforces the hero worship he has for Kratos, and so he, naturally wants to emulate him. You this in lots of ways, from how eager he is to go on this adventure, once he gets a slightly bigger picture of what's going on. It's not just "going to scatter mom's ashes." He's literally being pitted against a pantheon of gods, and various mystical beasts, and realms he's only heard of in legend. This is literally a child's dream come true. To go off with their beloved parent, that the idolize, and live out the various battles and adventures he grew up on. We see him, in the first frame of Atreus, playing with action figures, playing out some epic battle of mythology. So it's something fun to him. How he gleefully hurls himself, literally, into ridiculous danger, because his father is doing it, says HE can do it too, and he wants to trust his father, and he just wants to do that stuff. To live out his fantasies is a dream come true.
This of course terrifies Kratos, because he knows the horrible things he's done, and so he's conflicted with simultaneously having to make his son as strong as a god, but also trying to keep him from knowing that fact.
But, by the end, when Atreus and Kratos are working in tandem, no more conflict, just supporting and helping each other, it's very satisfying. We get to see Atreus, actually do the things he is capable of. We get to vicariously thrill at seeing an ACTUAL CHILD, being strong, being powerful, being a force to be reckoned with, just like we all imagined we were, when we would play in our backyard, and pretend to be Superman or Wonder Woman. And the fact that, in a lot of let's plays of that game that I've watched, in the final fight with Baldur, when they let Atreus off the leash, and he becomes this little fucking badass, you can clearly see so many of them just light up with glee at the scene. They fucking love it. And I did too when it happened. He became an avatar, or spirit totem, for every kid, that leapt off a playground swing, and imagined it was a building. For every kid that played with their dog in the back yard, and pretended he was a mighty steed, or a fearsome dragon that needed to be slain. And it's great. It's so cathartic and appealing, and the fact that Atreus genuinely is a likeable kid (minus his obligatory angsty period), that is usually framed as the one in the moral right. He's the one that wants peace, he doesn't want conflict, he doesn't like learning of people killing each other.
And so we root for Atreus. We want him to get over his emotional instability, partly from his father, and partly simply because he's a kid, and doesn't know any better yet. We cheer when he acts like a Big Damn Hero, and actually has the skills and power to back it up. It's not some kid standing in front of Rhino, with a Spiderman pajama outfit on. No, this is a fucking god, a child yes, but still a god. With power and strength beyond mortal kin. We want him to grow up and be a good person, the same thing his father wants. We want to see him become something that we all still secretly wish for, in our little kid soul, to be a hero.
