bartholen said:
Dead Metal said:
Ad he's not the most evil and irredeemable character, nore was he a complete and utter monster. The first game was literally about him trying to not become a total monster, the second was him having been driven completely mad. And the entire ending of GOW 3 was him finally learning to forgive himself for what he did. A complete monster does not get plagued by visions of its evil past to the point that its driven insane with guilt. And he gave each god a chance to back down and get out of his way.
If Kratos indeed forgave himself at the end of GOWIII, he sure has an odd way of showing it, ie.
continuing on to finish the very thing he set out to do because he couldn't forgive himself. Nor does he seem to have any change of heart after killing Zeus: no sympathy for Athena or her cause, no expression of any kind of relief or redemption ("Look around you, Athena! The world stands in ruin. What good is your message?", "All I remember is what I have lost"), and offing himself at the end. Also, he killed Hera, who posed no threat to him. He killed Hephaestus who had only helped him up to that point, and who could have been easily subdued. He cut off Hermes' legs while he was literally begging him for mercy. He killed Peirithous, who was straight up giving him his bow. He cut off Gaia's hand, who also literally had done nothing but help him. He turned on the Titans, who also all allied themselves with him and helped him get to his revenge, on a dime just because they wouldn't let Kratos kill Zeus himself. No, Kratos is by the third game a complete asshole through and through.
Forgiving himself and relieving himself of his guilt was the entire point and reason for how he got out of the eternal darkness. Remember how he ran through it and all he had lost told him to fight on and that it wasn't his fault? Finishing what he started wasn't because he couldn't forgive himself, but to end what he set out to do. He wanted revenge, revenge for all the things that had been done to him. Forgiving himself was just what made him stronger.
Change of heart after Killing Zeus: Stabbing himself to release the Hope for humanity to use.
He spited Athena and all she wanted to do, because she intended to rule over mankind as a ?ber god. Her entire thing was using Kratos to get all the power for herself.
Hera was sacrificing people to trying to stop him, and she insulted Pandora, whom she knew he had already imprinted his own daughter onto.
Hephastus sent him out on the quest because the weapon he made for Kratos was supposed to help him take Kratos down. He essentially had Kratos assemble his own doom.
Hermes was an asshole and only started begging for mercy after he realised that his plan of killing Kratos wasn't working.
Peirithous, yes that was a total dick move.
Gaia had done nothing but help him? Dude, she was using him as a pawn to get what she wanted and then discarded him the first moment she could. She tossed him into Hades, telling him that he was nothing but a pawn to her.
He turned on the Titans because after freeing them, they turned on him, Gaia tossed him to his death, and the others attacked him on sight.
And him being a complete asshole in GOW3 is kinda the point, he was desperately holding onto what little humanity and sanity he had left in GOW1, but instead of keeping their end of the deal and absolving him of the visions, they made him an immortal god. A formerly mortal mind that was on its way out, was made immortal and subject to further madness. By GOW2 he had ceased to be human and become a god that was driven mad by the horrors of his mortal past and the mistrust by the other gods.
In the end Kratos forgives himself, regains hope, kills Zeus, frees humanity to shape its own destiny, prevents a malicious god from taking supreme power and goes to start over.
Dead Metal said:
Have you played the games? Kratos has died a couple of times and that blade killed him once before when it was at its most powerful. So yeah, there was never any question of him coming back.
Remember though, that each time Kratos "died" ie. went to Hades, he had some backup: in the first game it was the gravedigger (was it ever properly explained who or what he was supposed to be), in the second the Titans brought him back, in Chains of Olympus he went to Hades on purpose so it's not exactly the same as dying, and in GOWIII he had the crappy writ... I mean the three judges who were one step short of just saying "we couldn't think of a proper way to write you out of Hades again so have some unclear mumbo-jumbo instead".[/quote]
The Three Judges of the Underworld are an actual part of Greek Mythology.
Kratos had help the first time, the Grave Digger (who was Zeus in disguise, hinted at in the game itself, confirmed in the bonus material and finally officially confirmed in Ghost of Sparta), did help him by lowering the rope, but basically Kratos could have done it himself, he just wouldn't have come out the place he needed to.
Gaia did not help Kratos in GOW2, she essentially called him a pussy for accepting death, which made him so angry he raged himself out of it.
Chains of Olympus he did go to Hades, but Charon killed him and tossed him into Tartaros.
In Greek mythology the underworld is an actual place you can go to an leave if you prove yourself strong or cunning enough. There are loads of stories with heroes going into hades to return loved ones. They basically have to survive Hades or not be elected to go to Greek heaven or hell.