Exploring Norse Mythology in God of War (Spoilers)

Norse mythology in God of War Norse mythology is not nearly as widespread in popular culture as something like Greek mythology but in recent years it has experienced a boost in popularity throughout movies television shows and of course videogames the 2018 God of War game developed by Santa Monica studio is easily one of the most notable examples going much further than just including casual references or dropping names instead featuring a full-fledged exploration of Norse culture and mythology well there's simply far too many references and connections to include in one video this video should provide a suitable summary for those who have played God of War and are interested in seeing the similarities and differences from what we know of Norse mythology as a warning this video will include major spoilers for the game including the ending so make sure to finish the game first if that bothers you as a side note I'll be using pronunciations from the game for clarity regardless of whether or not they are correct to begin with we should look at the various settings of the game and their interpretations of the mythology to start you have the human realm of Midgard where the majority of the game takes place Midgard meaning middle enclosure is the world of mankind created and protected by the gods in Norse mythology Midgard is meant to be earth at least as the Norse peoples viewed it surrounded by a massive ocean bordering this ocean the gods placed a huge wall protecting Midgard from the potential invasion of the yotan are also called giants Midgard is not often mentioned in the mythological tales but Odin the all-father would often wander among the realms including Midgard and the god Heimdall would also visit Midgard to dine with couples and sleep with them the God of War version of Midgard is a beautiful and cold land filled with icy mountains dark forests and land largely untouched by civilization well the exact dating of the game is unknown we do know that this realm of Midgard is meant to predate the Vikings as we delve further into the various events and entities present in the game will see that they have strayed quite a bit from historical accuracy for good reason along their travels Kratos and his son come to the center of Tears temple where they find roots of the world tree and are given a Bifrost in order to travel between realms using this Bifrost which contains the light of all time Kratos can travel to a number of other realms or worlds such as all time boosts Boeheim and helheim tears temple located in the middle of the lake of nine as a bridge that physically rotates to align with the tower associated with each realm some of the realms are blocked by Odin's magic and Jotunheim especially has been locked away in Norse mythology the Bifrost is a burning Rainbow Bridge that only connects Midgard to Asgard the realm of the Aesir gods the gods use the Bifrost to travel to Midgard but it is hot enough to burn the feet of any other creature that sets foot on it most of the other realms are accessible by physically traveling there are there by foot flight or boat and the gods will often travel between realms although generally they stick to Asgard Midgard or Jotunheim as for aggressive or the world tree it is the center of the Norse cosmology and it holds all of the nine realms among its branches all time is the first alternate realm the Kratos and at Reyes visit and is presented as a gorgeous world of vivid colors and elven architecture focused around a grand temple spilling out the mythical light of all fine when Kratos arrives the realm has been taken over by the Dark Elves and much of it has been corrupted by dark growths Kratos and atreya send up killing the dark elf King the light helps return to power in all hime you learn that Ulf hime is the home of both dark and light elves and they've been warring over control of the light for a long long time unfortunately almost none of this has any basis in Norse mythology and has been largely fabricated for the sake of the game we know very little of what the Norse peoples believed of all time and what we do know tends to be contradictory and fragmented elf hime was certainly the realm of the elves as the name means home of the elves but what exactly the elves were is a bit of a mystery one source describes them as being more beautiful than the Sun but some scholars believe this to be an attempt at introducing the concept of Christian angels to Norse mythology as this source was written by a Christian author Dark Elves are described by this source to be blacker than pitch living underground it is mentioned both in game and in Norse mythology that the Vanier God Freyr rules over all hime but what exactly that entails is unknown elves were often worshipped by Germanic peoples but their specific role within norse mythology is entirely vague Helheim is the next realm that Kratos travels to and it is presented as a frigid world with freezing winds and desolate landscapes it is a harsh torturous place for the dead where they will be outfitted and trained for the inevitable war at Ragnarok a massive ship is also constructed there to ferry them out of Helheim once Ragnarok comes during the game Helheim is currently overpopulated due to the lack of the Valkyries presence and taking warriors to Valhalla we also see a massive bird in the distance although it goes unmentioned in Norse mythology Helheim also called just hell or the underworld is indeed the realm of the Dead although it's physical description is a bit more vague than God of War depicts anyone who dies including the gods that are not chosen by the Valkyries to be taken to Valhalla go to hell Haim in most texts of Norse mythology Helheim is believed to be merely a continuation of life for most the go there where the souls of the dead continue to eat sleep drink and fight while one source again the same Christian one as before discusses Helheim is a much darker and unpleasant place this doesn't seem to be the usual depiction as for the army of the Dead this idea is taken from a single mention from a seer discussing Ragnarok when Loki leads all of hell's own people to fight against the gods despite this being seemingly the only mention of an army of the Dead it has entered popular culture the massive ship of the Dead is called Naga far and is made up with the untrimmed nails of the Dead although it is mentioned that Loki and the yotan are will sail Naga far at Ragnarok it also says that the ship belongs to moose boeheim not hell the massive bird is seemingly a reference to one of the three roosters that will crow at the start of Ragnarok one in Asgard one in Jotunheim and one in hell nifflheim and Muspelheim are two other realms that kratos can optionally traverse and both take the form of challenge areas boo spell hime is shown to be a realm of rock and fire with rivers of lava and erupting volcanoes it is said to be the home of Surtur the fire giant who will take his gleaming sword at Ragnarok and destroy Asgard this is all pretty much accurate from Norse mythology although Muspelheim is never visited in any tales and is additionally home to an army of fire giants that will follow sir tor at Ragnarok befell hime on the other hand is shown as a bleak desolate area covered in cursor to mist according to the game the Dwarven craftsman Ivaldi turned the mists of nifflheim into a curse and weapon a large shuffling maze is the major feature of this realm in Norse mythology nifflheim is a primordial realm of cold mist and ice meant to be elementally opposed to moose behind evil hime is potentially a later creation in Norse mythology and is occasionally used interchangeably with Helheim at the beginning of time the fire of moose boeheim and the icy mist of nifflheim combined in the great void to create the first giant amir Jotunheim is the final realm that Kratos in the trace visit and has only seen briefly in the game it is shown as a sunny barren land covered with mountains and little plant life this is a rather stark contrast to the Jotunheim depicted in Norse mythology which seems to be covered in dark forests snow-covered mountains and deeper rivers Jotunheim is separated from Asgard by a massive river that never freezes over and the yotan are living there subsist off of animals and fish it is a grim and dark environment that most who do not wish to live in but generally it is believed to be far different than the extreme depictions in popular culture the other realms savate elf hime vanaheim and Asgard are not accessible within this game at this point in time but it's highly likely that Kratos will visit the others at some point savato hime is the home of the dwarves and is located underground we know almost nothing about this realm but one mention of it says that there exists halls of gold there vanaheim is the land of the Vanier gods which we'll discuss further shortly again very little is known of this realm but based on our understanding of Norse mythology it's likely that this place is meant to be a very natural realm covered in plant life and lacking the civilization and structures of Asgard based on the God of War concept art vana Haim was originally meant to be a very alien and lush world filled with strange vivid creatures and plants time will tell if the developers changed this depiction as guard the home of the Aesir gods is a wondrous and grand realm with a multitude of massive buildings and halls each of the gods and goddesses seemed to have their own homes there and additionally the Hall of Valhalla exists to house the chosen warriors who will fight for Odin when Ragnarok comes Asgard is protected in multiple ways including a massive wall surrounding the realm and Heimdall The Watcher lives at the top of the Bifrost in order to stand guard let's move on now to discussing the various deities starting with Odin Odin the all-father is at the head of the pantheon of Norse deities and his relentless pursuit of knowledge and wisdom fills up much of the Norse tales although Odin doesn't appear in God of War his presence is very much felt throughout the game and he has mentioned a large number of times this version of Odin is far darker than the one presented in the Norse texts we have a maniacal ruler feared by practically everyone willing to scheme torture and kill anyone he wishes to get what he wants within the backstory of God of War Odin launched a genocide 'old war against the Odin are forcing them all to flee into hiding Odin seeks total control over all nine realms and has no patience for anyone getting in his way even his own family there are certainly elements of this found in Norse mythology and Odin has often gone to extreme measures in order to obtain further knowledge this does include hanging himself for nine days from aggressive and plucking out his own eye to drink from memory as well it is also true that Odin is not above using tricks and underhanded tactics to get what he wants but in general he was a highly respected deity while Odin is certainly concerned with the owners role to play in Ragnarok and much of his time is spent trying to change the future he isn't generally portrayed as genocide 'el Odin himself is half giant he's had various children of the Odin women and the gods will occasionally feast with Yona as a side note Odin's Ravens appear throughout the game but in actuality Odin only possessed two Ravens huginn and muninn but they did go out on daily flights and return to him with information Odin's wife also appears in the game in the form of Freya The Witch of the woods Freya as a Vanier goddess one of another tribe of deities hailing from vanaheim that came to Asgard after the war between the two tribes ended this war seems to be a major focus of the backstory of God of War but we know very little about the war and the Vanier gods in general in the backstory of the game Freya gave birth to Odin's son Balder and used her magic to make him practically invulnerable Odin married her for her knowledge of Vanier magic but she eventually fled from him and Odin placed a curse on her that forced her to remain on Midgard this is overall a big departure from the mythology we know principally because the wife of Odin and mother of Balder is Frigg not Freya this is explained by mimir in the game by saying that frag was merely a pet name used by Odin so that Freya Avani ur goddess didn't get credit for doing anything good such as giving birth to Balder well there are theories that Freya and Frigg are meant to be the same deity it's generally believed they are seperate goddesses additionally in Norse mythology Freya was given as a hostage after the end of the Aesir van air war along with her brother Freya and her father Nord Freya was known as a goddess of beauty and fertility in addition to being proficient in satyr magic and foresight satyr was a form of shamanism primarily focused on divination it was also used for curses and other rituals it was mostly performed by women such as Freya and other wise women and the use of it by gods like Odin is a subject of ridicule as a side note Kratos first encounters Freya due to an incident with a boar with golden bristles this is likely a reference to a golden boar created by the dwarves Brock and Sindri that was given to Freya's brother Freya Thor is another legendary deity that is largely absent from God of War only making a very brief appearance at the end of the game throughout the game Kratos hears a number of tales and mentions of Thor and his brutality Thor is presented as a genocide all maniac much like his father savagely killing every giant he can get his hands on as well as anyone else that troubles him using his hammer Mjolnir created by the Dwarven brothers Brock and Sindri Thora's practically wiped out the giant species and is feared and hated by many while elements of his character and God of war are definitely found in Norse mythology such as being quick-tempered and a slayer of giants he's been twisted in the same way as Odin a good example of this is in the story of Croom near the giant has retold by Mamere in the game crew near was a powerful yotan that was brought to Asgard to feast with the gods and mimir claims that Odin goaded who near into becoming drunk and boasting about killing the gods Mamere says that when Thor showed up he immediately smashed in who nears head in the actual text however room near became drunk and began boasting of his own accord and when Thor finally showed up he asked who allowed this giant to come here and drink when room near replied that Odin invited him Thor refrained from killing him and who near challenged Thor to a later duel which Thor one small changes like this throughout the game served to make most of the Aesir gods out to be darker more ruthless and the yotan are to be more sympathetic while Thor is definitely not a friend of giants he did occasionally feast with them and had his sons Magni and MODY with a yotan woman Magne and Modi's role in God of War is almost entirely fabricated and very little is known of them in Norse mythology it is mentioned by Mamere in the tale of who near that after Thor killed the giant crew near fell on top of Thor pinning him to the ground none of the gods could lift the body off of him but Magni who was only three nights old managed to lift it easily this is a true part of the story showcasing his children's extreme potential the only other mention of Magni and MODY is in the prediction of Ragnarok when after their father dies they will both inherit his hammer ill near the god Balder acts as the primary antagonist throughout God of War in a role that perhaps most drastically diverts from Norse mythology in the game Baldr acts as a form of enforcer for his father Odin and continually pursues Kratos and at Reyes Balder was blessed by his mother Freya to be invulnerable to all forms of damage but also had the side effect of causing him unable to feel anything at all this drove him mad bowing never to forgive his mother for what she had done in the end Boulder's and vulnerability is undone by a piece of mistletoe that had been forged into an arrow carried by a trace although Freya tried desperately to stop it even willing to sacrifice herself so that Balder would live kratos chose to kill Balder before he murdered his mother after Boulder's death a great winter falls on Midgard signaling the start of Ragnarok which was not supposed to start for a hundred more years at least in Norse mythology Balder is known as the most handsome and cheerful of the Gods loved by everyone and everything his only notable role in the mythology is his death which was foretold by ominous dreams that he began to have Odin went to a wise woman to find out about these dreams and was told that hell was being prepared for Boulder's arrival Frigg Boulder's mother went to everything in the cosmos such as rocks metals plants poisons animals sticks and everything else and received an oath from them not to harm her son the gods then amuse themselves by throwing things and attacking Boulder with weapons that harmlessly bounced off Loki growing jealous and spiteful at the display went to frigging disguise and asked her if she truly received oaths from everything Frigg admitted that she didn't ask the small mistletoe plant as she believed it too innocent to harm her son Loki got some mistletoe and convinced Boulder's blind brother Hodor to throw it at Balder instantly killing the god this event marked the inevitable approach of ragnarok and the doom of the gods Boulder's later returned to life after Ragnarok bringing gladness to everyone's hearts Mamere is another one of the principal characters in God of War providing much of the information to the player about the Norse gods and tales his first encounter trapped in a tree missing one eye and states that he has been kept there for 109 winters an odin tortures him daily kratos cuts off his head and takes it to Freya to reanimate it Mamere claims that he came to Midgard from a faraway land and had been traveling for some time he says he is known as the smartest man alive and knows everything about the gods and their dealings in Norse mythology Mamere was indeed exceptionally wise and was often a counselor to the gods Odin first spotted him in Jotunheim where Mamere was the possessor of a well that contained one of the roots of a gristle and its water provided great wisdom to those who drank it Odin came to the well asking for a single drink which Minear replied that he must pluck out one of his all seen eyes first and place it in the well Odin promptly did so and took a deep drink from the water becoming even wiser later after the Aesir Vanier war hostages were exchanged as was custom in Norse culture with Freya Freya and yourt coming to Asgard and the Aesir god high near and mimir being sent to vanaheim minier is never explicitly stated to be a god or yotan so it's unclear exactly where he came from or why he was sent to Bona hime the Vanier believed that high near had the makings of a chieftain and so they made him one immediately Mamere provided him with counsel and high near and a great reputation but whenever minier was absent high near could only respond to questions with let others when this occurred enough times the Vanier grew angry thinking the ace here tricked them and so they cut off Minear 's head and sent it to Odin Odin embalmed it with herbs and chanted over it with magic to bring it back to life Odin would then often carry me mirrors head around with him bringing it to his ear for wisdom tear is an interesting case as much of the information that God of War provides for him has little basis in Norse mythology in the game tear is seen as practically the only loved deity in the Norse pantheon a great and just God of War that traveled the realms making peace among races rather than starting Wars he would also often collect pieces of other cultures and shared knowledge with them becoming a natural leader and symbol of peace even the yotan are enemies of the Aesir like to tear enough to trust him tear worked to prevent his father Odin from entering Jotunheim and slaughtering the Giants until eventually he was killed for opposing Odin in Norse mythology tear is a God of War and of law two concepts which were heavily intertwined in Norse and Germanic culture although the game seems to portray tear is the only God of War in the Norse pantheon Thor and Odin were both also called upon in times of battle for different reasons tear is not mentioned in many Norse tales and is primarily associated with The Binding of Fenrir the great wolf prophesized to devour Odin and Ragnarok the gods feared Fenrir and wanted to bind him to prevent his role in Ragnarok and so they had the dwarves craft a magical ribbon that would be unbreakable they brought it to Fenrir telling him they wanted to test his strength but Fenrir suspected there was trickery involved the wolf agreed to be bound only on the condition that one of the gods placed their hand in his mouth as a sign of good faith none of the gods were willing except for tyr known for his courage when Fenrir found that he could not break the ribbon he bit off tears right hand and tear became known as a one-handed God loki is one of the most important figures in Norse mythology responsible for many events in the tales and particularly responsible for the death of Balder in God of War we learned that at the end of the game when visiting Jotunheim that at raises mother was actually a yotan making at Reyes half giant half god and half mortal additionally we learned that at Reyes was originally going to be named Loki as chosen by his mother other references mentioned that his mother was actually known as la Fey and some runes on the mirror and I'm seem to have them naming Kratos as far bode at races function as Loki within norse mythology is minimal in the game but there are a few potential references to his role in the future of the series in Norse mythology Loki is the child of far body a yotan male and lauf a a woman that is potentially either a yotan or potentially one of the Aesir it's never exactly specified and there is no further information on Loki's parentage or childhood at some point Odin met Loki and the two formed a blood oath together that no drink would be served to one that was not brought to the other meaning they would both be treated with equal respect though Loki's tongue and mischievous nature would often get him in the other AC our gods in trouble they always tolerated him due to this oath on another note loki is the father of a number of other figures in the mythology including the goddess hel the wolf Fenrir and the Midgard serpent also called your man Gonder although hel and Fenrir are seemingly absent from the game at least at this point in time the Midgard serpent is present to the lake of nine in Midgard we don't get many interactions with your man gonder although we do go inside him at one point but it's clear that he is no friend to the gods and is a very ancient creature in Norse mythology the Midgard serpent is only seen a couple times once when Thor goes fishing in an attempt to smash its head in and then again at Ragnarok when Thor and the serpent kill each other it is mentioned in the game that is believed that the Midgard serpent has already experienced Ragnarok the cataclysmic event at the end times and has actually come back in time since then he also mentions that at Reyes seems familiar to him and on a mural in Jotunheim there seems to be a depiction of a snake coming out of a Trey's his mouth it definitely seems as if they're going to continue with the concept of Loki being the father of your man Gunder and possibly others but in Norse mythology Loki is never really shown interacting with his children and their existence is generally used as an insult against him future content in the series will tell exactly what they plan to do with Loki and his children as it's just too early to say that's about the extent of notable deities present in God of War but there are a number of other entities and creatures taken from Norse mythology throughout the game Kratos and his son continually meet with two dwarves Brock and Sindri who also act as their personal blacksmiths Sindri is presented as an extreme germaphobe highly detailed and fastidious in his work his brother Brock however is far more gruff with blue skin due to extensive working with silver with his bare hands and is better at shaping metal than his brother both brothers were highly respected as craftsmen and were responsible for forging Thor's hammer Mjolnir an act they seemed to regret they went on to make the Leviathan ax for Fey which ended up in the hands of Kratos in Norse mythology sin jury sometimes referred to as a tree is the brother of Brock ER and the two were responsible for creating Mjolnir freyr's golden boar and a golden ring that duplicated itself eight times every ninth night these things were created due to Loki going to the brothers and boasting that the dwarves had made Odin's spear and other legendary creations were unrivaled by other craftsmen Loki bet his own head that Brocker and his brother could not make anything to rival what the sons of Ivaldi had made the brothers set out to create three things with a tree working the Forge and brokkr working the bellows being told not to stop working them for even a moment Loki attempted to sabotage the two by turning into a fly and biting Brock this failed twice but while working on the third creation Loki bit Brocker on the eyelid and he was forced to wipe the blood from his eye this caused the hammer mjolnir to come out with a shorter handle than normal meaning it could only be wielded with one hand despite this the gods judged these creations and the dwarves won the bet happy to claim Loki's head Loki informed them however that to take his head they must cut his neck and his neck was not part of the deal angry rocker sewed his mouth shut instead Valkyries are present in the game in the form of an optional side quest with nine of them present in the game that Kratos can fight these Valkyries have been cursed by Odin to remain in a physical form which eventually drove them to insanity sig rune their leader sealed the Valkyries away in order to prevent further destruction Kratos eventually frees all nine Valkyries from their physical forms returning their sanity this concept of a physical form making a Valkyrie insane is fabricated for the game as Valkyries in Norse mythology would often intermingle with mortals and are often daughters of human royalty although it's true that Valkyries are described as supernatural creatures capable of flight and other abilities there are a number of them that are mentioned as being serving mates for the Einherjar in Valhalla sig rune was indeed the leader of a group of Valkyries and all of the names were taken from different mythological sources there are various dragons present in the game although likely in a much different form than the Norse peoples would have imagined them first praised Lear who Kratos a notorious encounter in the mountain in Midgard seems to be a made-up creation for the game along with Boulder's dragon Fafnir is a dwarf that had turned into a dragon due to his greed in both the game as well as Norse mythology the other dragons present are odor and regen but in Norse mythology odor was killed by Loki while he was in of course the form of an otter and Regan was killed while still a dwarf by the hero Sigurd after he slew Fafnir the other notable dragon from Norse mythology that is not present in the game is need hog who continually gnaws on both the roots of the world tree as well as the corpses of those who are in hell because of murdering adultery our oath breaking Dragons were often seen as symbols of strength and bravery by the Vikings many of the enemies you encounter in the game are either based on the yoke gnar such as ogres and trolls or our highly embellished entities like the draugar draugar from Norse folklore our corpses reanimated by force of will generally with some semblance of intelligence and increased strength though they feature some traits similar to the concept of a zombie they also bear similarities to vampires such as drinking the blood of victims generally however they would often remain in the mound or tomb where they were buried protecting any treasure buried there much of the magical and supernatural traits related to the enemies in the game were created for a more exciting experience however overall despite the differences between Norse mythology and God of War the game features a huge number of references and connections to the mythological tales as well as Norse and Germanic folklore the developers clearly went to great lengths to include as much lore as they could while also making up some of their own some elements of the backstory such as the yotan Smith Palmer were created for the game but seemed to fit in just as well as the content taken from other material although they did need to change certain concepts such as making the a seer gods much more feared rather than respected and making the yotan are more sympathetic rather than troublesome the game has done wonders to introduce many people to the interesting world of Norse mythology time will tell where they go from here and how they reconcile certain elements of the mythology but God of War is clearly a labor of love from a group that enjoys the unique setting of Norse mythology you

Channel: The Exploring Series

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Rating: 4.9244266 out of 5

Keywords: god of war, god of war 4, god of war thor, god of war 2018, god of war ps4, god of war baldur, god of war loki, exploring the mythology behind god of war 4, the mythology behind god of war 4, the story of god of war, god of war explained, god of war norse mythology, norse mythology, cthulhu mythos, middle earth, odin, thor, loki, baldr, baldur, mimir, freya, odin god of war, who is odin, who is thor, who is loki, who is baldur, asgard, helheim, muspelheim, norse god of war

Id: Qcgooi_ELog

Length: 35min 27sec (2127 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 28 2018