I love modern retellings and interpretations of mythology and folklore, especially when they are amazingly well done.
I’m only a year behind, but I finally finished the new God of War a couple months ago. To be honest, I wasn’t interested in playing it originally. I heard it got great reviews, but I was never keen on the uber masculinity of the franchise. I read one review that this installment tried to work on the classic toxic masculinity tropes but that it still wasn’t enough, that Kratos’ still displayed too many repressed emotions, distant father syndrome, and etc. My boyfriend, however, convinced me to give it a try.
Now that I’ve completed it, I can safely say that my boyfriend is right and I will absolutely trust his recommendations in the future. Any reviewers who slammed Kratos for not growing enough clearly did not take time to really listen to the dialogue between Kratos and his son Atreus. Kratos goes from refusing to tell his son anything about himself at the beginning of the game to launching into a heartfelt story about the Spartan soldier who was Atreus’ namesake during the end credits. The character growth is absolutely beautiful and appropriate for a historical “one-note character”.
What does this have to do with #FolkloreThursday?
The production team did a seriously amazing job of researching Norse mythology. There are so many delightful easter eggs for those who are familiar with the lore. They created an alternative Norse timeline which I think was created by Odin in an attempt to avoid his fate at Ragnarok. But more on that theory later.
For today, I want to talk about Loki, what we know of his lore, and how it was used in the game.
Consider this your official spoiler alert. I’m starting with the end reveal of the game.
Atreus, Kratos’ son, was supposed to be named Loki. Or rather, that is what his giant mother wanted to name him. Turns out the giants of Jotunheim had a prophecy about him and dubbed him “The Champion”. Now this has no small amount of irony, you see, as in real life he is “The Trickster”. In fact, the original Loki of Norse lore was very, very different and held a place himself in Asgard.
Loki, The Trickster
First a little bit about Loki: He was born to a woman named Laufey and was associated with fire and chaos, as shown in the drawing of Loki threatening the Aesir here. (I really enjoyed Atreus being the son of a god with fire powers!) He was the father of Jormungandr the World Serpent (yah, THAT snake), Hel the ruler of Helheim, as well as Fenrir who is prophesied to kill Odin during Ragnorak.
Scholars actually know very little about the origins of Loki. The lore we do have describes him constantly swinging back and forth between assisting the Aesir and hindering or harming them. Ancient peoples may have only recognized him in the very northern Germanic lands. This is notable, as most other prominent Norse deities had widespread worship. Keep in mind, though, that different deities may were more important than others depending on the region (which makes the rivalry between Odin and Tyr in the game hysterical to me!).
As with Freya, who was a Vanir before joining the Aesir, Loki may be a holdover from some older local lore. This is not uncommon in ancient mythology and can be seen throughout the ancient world; Scholars believe that the Vanir may have represented an older population who lived in the region and were eventually ousted by the people who worshiped the Aesir. Similarly, Hecate of the Greek pantheon may have originally been Persian which is why she was technically a Titan but was not overthrown by Zeus and his retinue. There is no reason that some story may be lost to time of “Loki of the Jotunn” who were a continuing antagonist to the Aesir.
What makes this even more interesting is that in the lore, Loki is Odin’s “Blood Brother”. From the Prose Edda (one of the main texts we have explaining Norse lore):
Loki spake:
9. "Remember, Othin, | in olden days
That we both our blood have mixed;
Then didst thou promise | no ale to pour,
Unless it were brought for us both."
The story of how and why Loki and Odin took this oath is also lost to time unfortunately. In my opinion, it makes my alternate timeline theory even juicier.
The most important part of Loki's lore, however, is that he is responsible for the death of Baldur which is prophesied to be the beginning of Ragnorak. In the original lore Loki, knows that mistletoe is the only material that did not make an oath against harming Baldur (animism was also a part of ancient beliefs). So he crafted a mistletoe weapon and handed it to Baldur's blind brother to throw. It, of course, struck and killed Baldur instantly.
Loki is a fascinating figure to me because we have so little about him. The lore depicts him gallivanting with Thor, helping the Vanir, and remaining on generally good standing with everyone. Then suddenly, one day seemingly out of nowhere, Loki storms into the hall of the Gods in a rage and pisses everyone off. He kills Baldur and gets himself chained to a rock with a serpent dripping poison on him. Talk about a 180! I want to know why, what happened to send him off the handle, but it may be lost to time.
Ragnorak
Baldur’s death is one of the prophesied events that begins Ragnorak which is then followed by three long, Game of Thrones-esque winters.
Ragnorak is supposed to be a battle between the Jotunn giants and the Aesir which heralds the end of the world as it is known. Fenrir swallows Odin whole and Jormungandr strikes Thor with a deadly blow before dying himself. The World Tree is uprooted, the Moon and Sun are swallowed by wolves, and the stars disappear from the sky. Cats and dogs start living together.
Those are just the cliff notes, but as you can see, everything going belly up. The upside, however, is that prophecy dictates that after the battle, Baldur will be released from Hel and the few gods still alive (and the only two surviving humans) will repopulate the earth.
So with all this in mind, we turn back to the game.
Atreus, The Champion
...has no idea he is prophesied to have any part in any of this mess until the end credits of the game. He and Kratos pretty much stumble their way through the Norse pantheon the entire game which is actually pretty good writing for an audience that may not know the lore themselves. Throughout the game, no one except for possibly Odin and his sons appear to have any idea who Atreus’ mother actually was. Not even Kratos appears aware that she was of the Jotunn.
The only other creature who displays recognition is Jormungandr. When Kratos and Atreus speak with Jormungandr for the first time, the Serpent states that he recognizes Atreus’ voice though no one is sure how that could be possible.
Later their guide, Mimir (who had his head cut off and now hangs from Kratos’ belt to give important information to the characters), reveals an interesting piece of information that Atreus captures in his journal (readable by the player in the Codex menu):
“Jormungandr the World Serpent has already fought Thor in Ragnarok, and was knocked back in time to now. That, or Mimir is insane.”
This is not a part of Jormungandr’s original lore.
Atreus also records the following wisdom from Mimir:
“Odin thinks he can beat fate and change Ragnarok, even though the Serpent’s already been through it. Father doesn’t think much of fate either - ‘another lie told by the gods’ - so they have that in common…”
Reminder: it is known (Khaleesi) that Odin is prophesied to die at the jaws of the wolf Fenrir during Ragnorak. Fenrir is one of Loki’s sons, brother to Jormungandr.
All of these departures from the original lore appear to add up to the theory that Odin attempted to create a timeline that lacks Loki, with the erroneous belief that it would prevent Ragnorak from happening. Ragnorak is supposed to be a battle between the Jotunn giants and the Aesir but by the time Atreus and Kratos make it to Jotunheim, it appears all of the inhabitants have already been killed.
If there are no more Jotunn, then the Ragnorak war can no longer happen… right?
Even so, Baldur’s fate remains the same. Injured by the shard of mistletoe holding Atreus’ quiver together, Baldur still dies at the hands of Atreus (Loki) and Kratos. Once the player returns to Midgard, they find that it is snowing and winter has started.
What If…?
Alternate universe and timeline stories are always so much fun because they create really interesting lateral thinking puzzles. By not having Loki, the game poses the question what if Loki was not present in the lives of the Aesir? How would that change them?
Next time for #FolkloreThursday: I look at Baldur, his original lore, how it was changed for the game, and ponder if Loki’s absence had an impact on that change. Subscribe below or follow me on Twitter and Facebook to get updated on my next posts!
