God Of War: How Kratos Killing Magni Broke Ragnarok's Mythology
The God of War game from 2018, which pits God of War protagonist Kratos and his son Atreus against the gods and monsters of Norse Mythology — including Magni and Modi (Móði) - pays homage to many classic tales from Norse myth compendiums like the Prose Edda while also altering or adding strange twists to the events and outcomes of said stories. Besides reinterpreting the myths such as the tragedy of Baldur and Freya, God of War also fractures the prophecy of Ragnarök, the final battle foretold to destroy the world of Midgaard, when Kratos winds up slaying Magni and Modi, divine sons of Thor who are supposed to surviveRagnarök.
The developers of the God of War games frequently portray the gods Kratos fights as cruel or dangerously unstable beings, an interpretation not so far off from their portrayal in real-world mythology. In most modern monotheistic faiths, God with a capital G is an all-knowing, all-powerful force of pure benevolence. Old polytheistic mythologies, in contrast, are full of stories about gods and goddesses who commit awful deeds such as murder, kin-slaying, incest, and transforming unlucky mortals into animals, plants, or monsters. Iindeed, most religious rituals in old polytheistic cultures were designed to appease these temperamental deities and keep them from lashing out at their patron cultures. Drawing from the abusive behavior of god characters in Greco-Roman mythology, developers of the original God of War wound up making the deities of Olympus the villainous antagonists of their hack'n'slash game trilogy, and made the god-slaying vengeance-seeking demigod named Kratos their slightly less-villainous protagonist.
Related: Best God of War Side Quests
By the time of the PlayStation 4 God of War
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