Without a doubt, one of the best things about the new God of War games is how they portray Kratos as a father. In fact, Kratos' relationship with his son, Atreus is the true heart of the story, and its evolution over time has been perhaps the strongest element in either God of war (2018) and God of War Ragnarok.
Though he's gruff, short-tempered, and even at times rather violent, Kratos wants nothing more than to protect his son from his shameful past and ensure that his life is free of the tragedy that shaped the former god of war's life. Kratos has had some amazing fatherly moments in both God of War games.
9 Sharing The Lemnos Wine
While it might seem a bit odd to give a child a highly alcoholic beverage, the gesture goes beyond many people's more modern sensibilities. Up to this point in the story, much of Kratos' interactions with Atreus are as a figure of unquestioning authority. Kratos really only speaks to his son when he's either educating him or giving him an order.
In sharing the Greek wine, however, Kratos is beginning to see his son as more of an equal rather than as merely a burden. This also comes after the pair are mutually aware of their godhood, which itself drew the duo closer together.
8 Setting A Wayward Son Straight
Sometimes, a father needs to properly discipline their child when they make a mistake. In Atreus' case, he gets so overconfident in his godhood that he kills Modi, yells at Sindri, challenges Baldur, and sets off a chain of events that traps him and his father in Helheim.
These are quite the mistakes, and Kratos says as much to Atreus. He chastises him for his foolish behavior, humbling the boy after he'd allowed his newfound godliness to go to his head. It's an important moment because it's Kratos trying to instill an important value into his son; to be better than who his father was.
7 Kratos Reveals His Past
For much of the game, Kratos purposefully hides his past from Atreus in the hopes that it will spare the boy what could be a lifetime of pain.
Over the course of the story however, Kratos and Atreus grow much closer to each other, with one of most important moment for either of them being when Kratos reveals his past, specifically that he was once a cruel god who killed his own father out of revenge. At long last, Kratos trusts that Atreus is able to not only handle his own nature, but know his father's story, accept him for who he is and learn from his mistakes.
6 Spreading Faye's Ashes Together
For much of God of War (2018), Kratos keeps his wife's ashes very close to the chest, not even letting Atreus carry them. That is, until the very last stretch when Kratos finally suggests to Atreus that he carry his mother's ashes up the mountain in Jotunheim.
The pair then spread her ashes together, putting an end to their long journey and saying one final goodbye to their beloved Faye. It's a scene that not only functions as a climax to their physical Journey to the realm of the Giants, but as an emotional climax to their journey as father and son. Here, at the highest peak in all the nine realms, the two finally share in their grief and at long last move on together.
5 Revealing Atreus' Namesake
While it is revealed that the name Faye wanted to give to Atreus was actually Loki, it was Kratos who seemingly won out in the naming of their son. Kratos explains that he named his son after a Spartan warrior that he looked up to back in Greece. This Atreus of Sparta is described as being a symbol of hope for the grim Spartan soldiers, and that when he died he'd saved countless lives in the process (possibly even Kratos').
At its heart, it's a tale of legacy and what Kratos believes his own son to be capable of living up to. Atreus, shocked that his father had such a good story in him, can only lament as Mimir wasn't around to hear it.
4 Making a Promise
Kratos and Atreus are overall much closer by the time of God of War: Ragnarök, but that doesn't mean they are without any sort of tribulation leading up to the final confrontation with Asgard. A rift grows between Kratos and his son, partly as a result of the former's death prophesy but also due to Atreus going off on his own against his father's wishes.
Kratos, however, realizes that he is backsliding into the man he was in the past; angry and distrustful. He apologizes to his son and the two make a promise that whenever the other isn't around, they will listen for each other's voice in their head for guidance. It's rare for Kratos to admit he is wrong, but here it represents a major step forward for his character. He is beginning to see his son as a man who can be trusted to make his own choices rather than as child in need of sheltering.
3 The Story of The Old Man
In a not-so-subtle allegory to the Ghost of Sparta's own life, Kratos tells Atreus a story to help the boy sleep the night before Ragnarök. The story centers around a man who'd lived such a hard life that he wished for death to come and take him. Indeed, this mirrors Kratos' own struggles in the earlier games, struggles that he'd always wished that Atreus would never have to face.
Kratos, however, can't finish the story due to Atreus falling asleep in the middle of his tale, leaving Kratos to wonder in silence if this will be the last moment he'll spend with his son before he marches off to war, an enterprise Kratos is unfortunately all too familiar with.
2 Keeping An Open Heart
One of the main points of contention between Kratos and Atreus is that the latter was not raised as a warrior like his father was. Kratos doesn't necessarily hold it against him, however this generational difference is the source of much of the misunderstandings the two have had over the years.
Echoing back to when Atreus first felt the guilt of taking another life, however, Kratos admits to him that he was wrong to close his heart to the suffering of others. Not only this, but that it was his mother Faye's wish for the both of them to keep their hearts open to the world. In this instance it is Kratos coming around to his son's worldview, telling him never to sacrifice who he truly is, especially not out of some misguided sense of revenge.
1 Letting Atreus Go
There are almost no words to describe the kind of journey Kratos and Atreus have gone on. Through the frozen wilderness of Midgard and over the highest peaks in all the nine realms, the two have grown and learned from one another in a truly astonishing way over their many travels - Which is why it's so bittersweet to see that journey reach its end.
Kratos, proud of the man his son has matured into, embraces Atreus one last time before the young man embarks on a journey of his own to find the lost Giants. Remembering their promise, Kratos tearfully lets his beloved son go, trusting that he will see it through to the end. With this last act, Kratos honors his wife's memory, accepting that to grieve deeply is to have loved fully.
God of War (2018) and God of War: Ragnarök are available now for PS4, PS5 and PC (God of War (2018) only).