![]() As a result, people often assume that Greek mythology has more of a ‘canon’ than it really does, because of books like Edith Hamilton’s ‘Mythology,’ which typically presents one version of a story, rather than all the different variants from Ovid or Hesiod. As Jackson Crawford, a translator and scholar of Old Norse texts who teaches at the University of Colorado Boulder, puts it: “Greek mythology is typically taught as a very scholastic subject, whereas Norse myth is typically encountered for fun. Though popular culture typically presents these gods as belonging to a coherent “canon” of well-defined stories, in reality, most mythological systems are based on a narrow skein of sources and fragments that offer a radically-incomplete and sometimes self-contradictory portrait of an alien society. Since the team knew that this new entry would have to be much grander in scale than its largely-linear predecessors, Barlog felt that those bawdy tales would help the game find a more dynamic emotional palette, rather than what he calls the “morose and dour” themes of the previous trilogy. To Barlog, though the Norse myth system possessed many obvious parallels to the Greek pantheon that Kratos spent a trilogy-and-a-half smashing through, he was more interested in its subtle deviations, such as what he dubs “the bizarre Scandinavian sense of humor,” one quality that he admits the previous trilogy lacked. That’s basically what Kratos would be doing.” If you’re going to go hide out, hiding out at your neighbor’s house isn’t a smart move. There’s a lot of crossover in the culture. But I didn’t know if we were ready for it technically, and geographically, it’s not that far away from Greece. ![]() We didn’t do a lot of that in the early games. I really loved the idea that the pharaohs were the early vessels for the Gods, and they existed in an active, urban civilization. The last two we came down to, that ones that were so exciting, were Egyptian and Norse. “But I knew there was a place for each of them, but not right away. “There were fantastic stories in each system,” Barlog says. Eventually, the field tightened to three choices: starting over at the beginning of Greece, going south to follow Egypt’s Book of the Dead, or crawling up to the land of snow and ice. After all, translating the ashen-skinned “Ghost of Sparta” from the series’ baroque vision of mythic Greece to an entirely different culture proved to be a lot harder than just sticking a pair of Viking horns on his head and calling it a day.Īs creative director Cory Barlog recalls, the northward shift was the logical endpoint of a lengthy research cycle that involved Barlog and his fellow writers delving into as many mythological systems as they could get their hands on, sifting through the likes of the ancient Mayans and the stories that gird modern Hinduism, trying to decide which direction to take. Jormungandr is such a large creature that any movement of his body causes the waters around the lake to shift, revealing new areas and mysteries to explore and unravel.It might seem silly to say this now - now that “ God of War” has emerged from nearly a decade of slumber to rapturous acclaim - but when Kratos and Atreus took those first halting steps into the swirling snows of fantasy Norseland back at E3 2016, there were some that wondered if Sony’s Santa Monica Studio could really stick the transition. Jormungandr (World Serpent)Ī giant serpent living around the Lake of the Nine. She aids them both, giving them protections and abilities to better navigate the known realms. The mysterious Witch of the Woods – a woman who cares deeply for the many creatures of the woods, she forms a friendship with Kratos and, in particular, in his son Atreus. He provides the unknown histories and stories to the father and son, telling many strange and epic tales regarding the Aesir gods and their madness. Like his brother, he appears to Kratos and Atreus from time to time throughout their journey, offering much of the same services his brother does.Ī wise but bodiless man, Mimir is found by Kratos and Atreus throughout their journey. The brother of Brok, Sindri is a master blacksmith who is as cowardly as his brother is fierce. He is locked in a feud with his brother, Sindri, in a vain effort to prove who is the better smithy. A Dwarf who periodically appears to both Kratos and Atreus on their journey, offering aid and a place to spend their saved up Hacksilver.
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