While God of War 2018 had its fair share of mythological characters and creatures, God of War Ragnarok turns it up to 11, with new characters, monsters, and animals to meet around every corner. One of the most memorable mythical creatures in 2018's God of War was the Bitter Squirrel Runic Summon, a foul-mouthed spirit that insulted Kratos and Atreus whenever he was summoned. While this creature was a hidden Easter egg and collectible in the previous game, God of War Ragnarok gives a decent amount of screen time to the squirrel behind the Summon, Ratatoskr.
Introduced a few hours into God of War Ragnarok's story, Ratatoskr is a talking squirrel who resides in Yggdrasil, the World Tree. Upon meeting Ratatoskr, Atreus exclaims that they've met before, to which Ratatoskr states he has a Bitter version, and a more friendly persona, with the creature having the ability to spread his soul across the Nine Realms in the form of small squirrel spirits. In God of War Ragnarok, Ratatoskr's lore is actually quite faithful to the Norse mythology source material, even if the rest of the game takes quite a few liberties.
The Mythology Behind God of War Ragnarok's Ratatoskr
Ratatoskr appears throughout Norse mythology, including in the three major Norse mythology books, "The Poetic Edda," "The Edda," and "The Codex Regius." With a name that roughly translates to 'drill-tooth,' Ratatoskr is often depicted as a small red squirrel, sometimes with overly large ears. Aside from that, Ratatoskr is usually described and drawn as just an average squirrel, with no real defining mystical features.
This little squirrel has quite a prominent role in Norse mythology. Tasked with being the messenger of the gods, Ratatoskr scurries along the branches of Yggdrasil, carrying messages to all the Nine Realms. While Ratatoskr has carried messages of all types, from many types of beings, his most frequent correspondence is with Nidhoggr and the eagles of Yggdrasil.
Wrapped around Yggdrasil's roots, Nidhoggr is a dragon-like creature that's sole purpose is to protect the Tree of Life at all costs. At the top of Yggdrasil, a swarm of eagles can be found, perched on the top of the tallest branches. Despite both being godly entities, both in charge of a monumentally important location, Nidhoggr and the eagle despise each other and will often insult each other viciously throughout Norse mythology.
While Ratatoskr is a loyal messenger, he's also a mischievous one. Seeing an opportunity to stir the pot, Ratatoskr takes great pleasure in ferrying insults between the eagle and Nidhoggr, even occasionally adding his own little bit of spice to the messages to ensure that they're truly insulting. To some Norse mythology scholars, Ratatoskr's delight in stoking the flames between Nidhoggr and the eagle is just simple troublemaking fun, but other scholars believe Ratatoskr's motivations may have been a little more sinister.
In some scholarly interpretations of the mythology, Ratatoskr is portrayed as more of a villainous, spiteful character, whose main goal is to destroy Yggdrasil. Though he has little strength of his own, Ratatoskr may be using his cunning to manipulate Nidhoggr to do the heavy lifting for him. In mythology, after Ratatoskr delivers one of the eagle's insults to Nidhoggr, the dragon starts chewing at the roots of the World Tree. And when Ratatoskr relays this damage to the eagle, the eagle starts plucking off branches of the tree to rain down on the dragon below. Some scholars believe that Ratatoskr was actually successful in causing great damage to Yggdrasil through his manipulation.
In God of War Ragnarok, Ratatoskr manages both these beings (if the eagles aren't so obvious), but not so deviously. This depiction doesn't seek to destroy Yggdrasil, but preserve it. He serves as a taskmaster, ally, and interesting character throughout the events of the game. Seeing how he lines up with, but also differs from, his mythology makes the squirrel all the more intriguing.
God of War Ragnarok is available now on PS5 and PS4.
