God of War Ragnarok takes us on Kratos' and Atreus' next great adventure. The fateful Ragnarok is upon us, Odin and Thor are doing everything in their power to stop it and our protagonists seem to be stuck straight in the middle of the conflict.
The team at Santa Monica team has based their tale on Norse Mythology from the Poetic and Prose Eddas. These are the original books from which Norse Mythology derives. However, they have made some major changes to the characters, meaning they have to rewrite some events to fit this universe. Amazingly, they still manage to have Ragnarok play out as expected, but with Kratos' presence, there are some definite changes to the nine realms that can't go unnoticed.
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The Giants Are Dead
At the end of God of War 2018, players visit Jotunheim to deliver Faye's ashes to the highest point in the nine realms. Here, players discover all the Giants are dead. This is a huge moment, as the Giants are prophesied to storm Asgard during Ragnarok. Because of this, a different giant in the form of the "Champion" is prophesied to lead the armies of the nine realms into Asgard. This of course is Atreus as he is the "last" giant left outside of Ironwood.
At the end of Ragnarok, Atreus knows there are other Giants alive, somewhere among the realms, and leaves to go on his own adventure. This may lead to an Atreus standalone game giving us the opportunity to experience some more Loki gameplay.
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No "Palace" In Asgard
Atreus seems surprised to see "The Great Lodge" for the first time with Heimdall as the tales tell of Odin's Palace being a giant spectacle. However, when players first visit Asgard they instead find the Lodge where Odin's family resides. This also would've surprised many players as in lots of modern media sources, such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Odin's palace is shown as a giant golden castle. The Lodge does seem right at home among the brutalist style of God of War and the surrounding Asgard.
Heimdall explains to Atreus that "true power does not need to flaunt it", giving us some respect for Odin's humbleness among his people. However, this is all a great facade on his great journey for the truth and knowledge of the Universe.
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Light of Alfheim
Alfheim is the realm in which the Elves dwell, both Light and Dark. In this realm, players find "The Light of Alfheim" which seems to be the major cause of the great war between the elves. Kratos steps into the Light and has many visions and hallucinations of Faye and Atreus, possibly showing that it may be a source of divine truth as well.
Unfortunately, the Light of Alfheim is never directly mentioned in Norse Mythology and is not portrayed as a giant beam of light in the middle of a temple. However, this is a beautiful way of finding a source of war between the realms and plays a crucial role in the plot and in both Kratos and Atreus' story arc.
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Giant Eagle in Helheim
Players first see the eagle when they initially visit Hel in God of War 2018. It is never directly addressed who this Eagle is, but in Norse mythology, we do know of a giant eagle called Hraesvelgr (which can be translated to "Corpse Swallower"). He sits "at the end of the world" and causes the wind to bellow when he beats his wings to fly. This does seem to fit well within God of War, as the "winds of Hel" are mentioned numerous times during gameplay. However, it is never directly said that this creature sits in Hel itself.
It seems this Eagle may be a merge of Norse characters as Loki's daughter "Hel" is the one that waits in Helheim. Perhaps this Eagle is the daughter of Loki, or are players yet to see Hel overthrow Hraesvelgr as the ruler of Helheim?
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Tyrs Temple
Tyr's Temple can be found at the center of Midgard but is destroyed during the opening of God of War Ragnarok. This Temple is used as transport between the realms and sits on top of Tyr's Vault, which holds many items from across the nine realms and from other pantheons, as seen in God of War 2018. Tyr himself is somewhat similar to his Mythological counterpart, however, this temple is never mentioned in the Edda's.
The Temple symbolizes Tyr's friendliness with every realm and shows how he was trying to unite the pantheon to work together and become a cohesive unit in search of peace.
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Nidavellir And Svatalfheim.jpg)
We venture to Svartalfheim in search of the imprisoned Tyr. The main city here, Nidavellir, is home to many Dwarves including a new ally called Durlin.
This realm is only briefly mentioned in Norse Mythology and is referred to by a few names. Unlike in God of War, Mythology states Svartalfheim and Nidavellir as being the same thing (the realm of the Dwarves). However, in God of War, the writers have worked both of these names into the game as separate locations with Svartalfheim being the name of the realm and Nidavellir being the name of the city / physical location.
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Fenrir's Imprisonment
As many know, Fenrir is the giant wolf that is imprisoned by Odin as he is aware that Fenrir is present during Ragnarok. However, none of these events take place in God of War (or at least how fans may expect them to). At the start of God of War Ragnarok, Atreus' dog is called "Fenrir" but he sadly dies of an illness, and his soul is released. Later in the game, players run into a giant dog in Hel called "Garm" who is also present in Norse Mythos. Loki manages to capture Fenrir's soul in his knife and plant it into Garm, turning him into the giant hound fans all know.
Because Fenrir is never imprisoned by Odin Tyr doesn't have to sacrifice his arm, which is why players never saw him depicted with one arm in any of the murals during both games. In the book "Viking Spirit", Daniel Mccoy explores the semantics of Norse mythology and concludes "Paradoxically, then, the best way to be true to the Norse myths and religion is to continue to reinvent them for one's own time and place". All of these examples listed above are great examples of how the team at Santa Monica has developed the Norse Mythology into their own story and rewritten the Norse mythos into the video gaming medium, arguably the most popular form of media and storytelling.
God of War Ragnarok is available on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.