Sony’s next console generation is right around the corner, but so far information about the PS5 and its stable of launch games is basically a mystery. The console is likely going to arrive around holiday 2020 and, so far, Godfall is pretty much the only new game that has been confirmed. Even if it doesn’t arrive right at launch, fans are hoping that the first year of PS5 brings helps introduce the next step of Kratos and Atreus’ journey.
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After God of War creator Cory Barlog recently started discussing what might happen in a sequel to God of War 2018, fans have begun some wild speculation. Taking a look back at the final act of the 2018 game, there is a ton of open-ended setup about what might happen next. Revelations about Atreus, his mother, her homeland, and fractured friendships all leave a lot of interesting plot points to be explored in future adventures. Among those threads, there’s the potential for a major villain to emerge, as well.
Spoiler warning: The following will dive deep into details about the ending of God of War, so stop reading here if you haven’t finished that game yet.
Throughout most of God of War Freya is a trusted ally to Atreus, despite the fact that Kratos isn’t a fan of any God of Goddess. She helps the father and son out many times during the course of the game and actually protects and looks over Atreus while Kratos journeys to Helheim alone to help find the key ingredient for a cure to the darkness that is overtaking the boy. Towards the end of the game, conflict grows between the small group as Kratos and Baldur’s encounters begin to grow more deadly.
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For those who didn’t play the first God of War, or might just need a refresher, Freya is the former wife of Odin. During their marriage, Freya mothered Baldur and her son is incredibly precious to her. The Goddess gifted (but really cursed) Baldur by removing his ability to feel pain or die. As a side effect, Baldur was driven insane by his lack of ability to feel anything meaningful, which ultimately lead him down the path to becoming the main villain in the 2018 game.
Towards the end of the game, Kratos and Atreus discover Baldur’s vulnerability and realize that they are able to do serious damage to the son of Freya. At this point, Freya’s attitude towards Kratos and the boy changes and she goes into full protection mode to stop them from hurting her beloved son. Kratos agrees to leave Baldur be if he promises not to harm Freya, but her son is completely mad and still attacks her. Kratos eventually kills Baldur to protect Freya, which causes Freya to look at Kratos with hate and disgust. It seems their short-lived friendship is over.
This all takes place in the final moments of God of War and the game ends with Freya leaving Kratos with cruel words while she carries away the body of her son. This all seems to be setting up a future conflict between the pair and many fans speculate that the Goddess could be one of the primary villains of the inevitable sequel.
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Another line of thought may suggest that this course of action is too obvious and also clashes with the franchise’s new themes of redemption and breaking the cycle of violence. It seems possible that Freya may be setup as the villain during the early portion of a sequel, but would eventually be won over by Kratos and Atreus and end up forgiving the old Spartan. This would allow the game to shift focus to a new enemy like Odin himself or some other threat from Norse mythology that hasn’t been fully explored yet.
It’s also worth mentioning that Freya’s powers are currently fairly limited thanks to the restraints that Odin has placed on her after their separation. Her travel is incredibly limited, as are her magical powers. That said, part of the game could involve her breaking free from Odin’s restraints in order to become powerful enough to exact her revenge. After Freya departs, Mimir (the literal talking head companion Kratos carries around on his belt) suggests that they just need to give her time and she will eventually come around. Hopefully, that is the case, as she was a powerful ally and Kratos’ actions were only meant to protect her (and all of the realms) from Baldur.
At this point, a sequel to God of War has not been officially unveiled yet, so we’re still firmly in the realm of speculation when it comes to Freya’s role in future adventures. She received a lot of screen time in the last game and was left with a lot more story to explore, so either way it seems very likely that she will be back when the game does eventually make an appearance.
God of War is available now for PS4. A sequel to God of War has not been officially announced at this point.
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