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So, this list goes through key examples of the kills Kratos felt were deserving and undeserving, the justified and unjustified. There will be spoilers for Ragnarök and the rest of the series, so proceed with caution.
10 Justified: Persephone In Chains Of Olympus
The Queen of the Underworld didn’t want that title. Like the original legend, she was tricked by Hades into spending half her lifetime in the realm of the dead as his wife. With Olympus unable and unwilling to help, she sought revenge by kidnaping Helios, letting Morpheus cast sleep on people and gods alike, then using the titan Atlas to destroy the World Pillar.
Its destruction would destroy every realm in Greece from Olympus to Tartarus. She thought tricking Kratos into de-powering himself to stay with his late daughter would take care of any opposition. Instead, he trapped Atlas in the pillar’s place and killed Persephone to free Helios and save the realms.
9 Unjustified: The Boat Captain In God Of War (2005)
In the opening stage, Kratos had to fight a Hydra that had eaten the boat captain, the only man with a key he needed to progress. Luckily for him, even after killing the beast, the captain was still alive, struggling at the precipice of the monster’s gullet. Kratos pulled him up, only to reveal he wasn’t there to save him.
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He just pulled the key off of him, then dropped him down the Hydra’s throat to his doom. It’s a neat example of Kratos as an antihero with a capital “A.” Still, after adding insult to injury across the series, Kratos admits in a note in Ragnarök that he regretted killing the poor guy. He had no reason to drop him other than because he could.
8 Justified: Ares In God Of War (2005)
The original game was about Kratos trying to stop Ares from destroying Athens and threatening Olympus. The original Greek god of war was a dangerous and manipulative character. While he gave Kratos his second chance at victory on the battlefield, he also tricked him into killing his wife and daughter to devote himself fully to Ares’ cause.
That cause ultimately was the conquest of Olympus itself via his plan with the Furies in God of War: Ascension. While it didn’t work, he still laid waste to cities across the continent for his own desires. Kratos killing him in combat brought peace to everyone, save Kratos himself as he remained cursed by Ares’ trick. He was given Ares’ old job, but it wasn’t enough.
7 Unjustified: Civilians
It didn’t take much for Ares to manipulate Kratos into doing his dirty work. Before their deal, Kratos would lead the Spartan Army into new territory, attacking anyone and anything for the good of Sparta. Once he offered his service to Ares, he only became more brutal, killing civilians for the war god’s whims. As far as Kratos was concerned, if a non-combatant was in the way they had to be removed.
A cowardly man holding a bridge back? Shoot him with lightning. A wounded soldier? Feed him into moving gears. Poseidon’s Princess pleading for her life? Crush her in a wheel to progress. This indiscriminate approach is how Ares was able to make Kratos kill his own family, one he wasn’t able to shake off until he made his way to Midgard.
6 Justified: Zeus In God Of War 3
While the Ruler of Olympus seems benevolent in the first God of War, there were always cracks in this façade. God of War 3 argues he was corrupted by the fear released from Pandora’s box. Though even before this his manipulation of Pathos Verdes III and Daedalus showed he was willing to lie and take lives to get his way.
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In turn, his fears ruled him before the box was opened too. It’s why he sent Ares and Athena to kidnap Kratos’ brother Deimos, mistaking him for the “marked warrior” prophesied to oppose him. Then he cursed Kratos’ mother to keep her from revealing his true familial ties. Killing Kratos and destroying Sparta post-corruption were just insults to injury.
5 Unjustified: Peirithous In God Of War 3
Peirithous was a friend of Theseus who joined him on his journey to Hades to woo Persephone. The two were tricked into sitting in chairs that latched onto them and kept them from getting up. Theseus was rescued by Hercules, but Peirithous was left behind. By God of War 3, he was surrounded by flammable bramble to make his rescue even more difficult.
He pleads with Kratos to free him in exchange for a new weapon. There’s no reason to doubt him as he’s just an ordinary mortal seeking freedom. Instead, Kratos frees a fire-breathing Cerberus dog and roasts Peirithous alive to get his bow anyway.
4 Justified: Baldur In God Of War (2018)
The big bad guy of the first Norse game was as much a victim as well as a villain. He used to be a relatively innocent Aesir, the young son of Odin and Freya. But once his mother, consumed by fear for his future, cast a spell that made him near invulnerable, it twisted him. The magic also took away his senses, and he was unable to taste or feel any sensations.
Feeling betrayed and driven mad by the spell, he sided against her, giving in to his rage and brutality. Even after the spell was undone, he couldn’t let go of his bitterness. Freya’s attempts at reason led to her offering herself as a sacrifice to his whims. Seeing himself in Baldur, Kratos put a permanent end to the cycle of revenge. It didn’t help him out in the short term but proved to be a reasonable choice in time.
3 Unjustified: Hephaestus In God Of War 3
The deformed smith-god was friendly towards Kratos, giving him advice, tips, and backstory. The Ghost of Sparta took it to heart too, as it saved him from believing Helios’ lie about stepping into the Flame of Olympus and dying as a result. However, to snuff it out entirely, Kratos needed to sacrifice Hephaestus’ surrogate daughter Pandora. Then he’d have the power to kill a god once again.
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So, it’s no surprise he turned against Kratos, tricking him into fighting Cronos, then using a new weapon to electrocute him. In self-defense, Kratos gave the smith god a taste of his own medicine. He could’ve left him alone after that as he couldn’t escape his underworld prison. Instead, he killed Hephaestus with his own mechanism. He would recount his and Pandora’s story later to Freya in Ragnarök with some pity for his fate.
2 Justified: Heimdall In God Of War: Ragnarök
There are few characters more aggravating than the all-seeing watchman of the Aesir. He had a case for being wary of Atreus, but not for deliberating taunting him and Thor’s daughter Thrúd for kicks. He’s snotty towards everyone and even more so to those who oppose Asgard. If the Norns hadn’t predicted he’d try to kill Atreus, Kratos would’ve likely killed him for getting on his last nerve.
Yet he actually showed him mercy, offering Heimdall a chance to walk away. But just like Baldur, he couldn’t let go. Kratos’ pity offended him even more. With no willingness to stop, Kratos had to make that decision for him, feeling more conflicted about his death than any player would.
1 Unjustified: Athena In God Of War 2
The Goddess of Wisdom had been Kratos’ guiding light for most of the series. She offered him the path to redemption across Chains of Olympus and God of War, tried to apologize for her part in his brother’s abduction in Ghost of Sparta and keep him from giving into rage in God of War 2. She didn’t want Kratos to lose himself, nor for Olympus and Greece to suffer as a result of it.
But her sacrifice to save Zeus cost her dearly. She came back as a corrupted ghost in God of War 3, willing to take her father’s place as another tyrant doling out false hope. Her death was accidental, yet Kratos regretted it all the same. His guiding light became a taunting specter, a symbol of everything that went wrong for him in his quest for revenge.
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