Kratos Does Not Kill Odin in God of War Ragnarok
After years of anticipation, Sony‘s smash hit God of War series returned in November 2022 with Ragnarok, concluding Kratos and Atreus‘ epic Norse saga. While fans may have expected the Ghost of Sparta to clash with Odin in a final boss battle to rival their showdown with Thor, the story takes a more nuanced turn. According to Sony Santa Monica Studio developers and extensive gameplay footage, Kratos does not directly kill Odin in Ragnarok. So how does the Allfather meet his end?
Odin Orchestrates Much of the Conflict
As characters like Mimir and Freya allude to early on, Odin has been manipulating events throughout this Norse journey. Obsessed with prophecies to avoid Ragnarok and his destined death, Odin drives Thor to hunt Kratos by preying on Thor‘s anger over his sons Modi and Magni‘s deaths.
"Odin won‘t risk an open war with outsiders, but he‘ll prod Thor into tryin‘ to murder ya – quietly and from the shadows," warns Mimir.
This leads to an epic showdown where Kratos and Atreus manage to best Thor in a difficult multi-phase battle. But ultimately Kratos spares Thor‘s life after seeing a vision from his late wife Faye, pleading for peace and warning against repeating past mistakes.
Odin Intervenes
However, just as Thor finally stands down from attacking Kratos and begins reflecting on his actions, Odin suddenly appears via magical projection. Likely expecting Kratos to kill Thor, Odin seems unhappy with this outcome.
He quickly conjures a magical spear and drives it through a reconciling Thor, fatally wounding his own son. This shocks Kratos and Atreus.
A weakened Thor uses his last breath to apologize to his father for failing him yet again. It‘s a gut-wrenching moment highlighting the cycle of violence Kratos battles to escape.
The Final Fight With Odin
An enraged Odin fully teleports to their location, armed for battle. What follows is an epic three-phase clash between Kratos and Atreus against the ruthless Allfather Odin that GameInformer describes as "a visually arresting flight through psychedelic space."
With well-timed defensive maneuvers and runic attacks, they‘re narrowly able to defeat Odin in a close call that deals massive health bar damage if you fail to block certain spear or fist combos.
Odin‘s Demise
In his desperate final moments, Odin begins pontificating about the destiny of gods and mortals when suddenly the magical Vanir Sindri appears, clutching a glowing white orb containing Odin‘s spiritual essence.
It‘s later revealed that Freya safely transported Kratos, Atreus, and herself away from Odin‘s sight using Vanir magic. Meanwhile she instructed Sindri to retrieve this orb.
Rather than slay Odin themselves, Sindri destroys the orb – erasing Odin from existence forever. Atreus then takes care to hide away the space-time marble they used to travel between realms from Odin‘s treasures, hoping to prevent further meddling with the fabric of reality.
So in summary, while Kratos defeats Odin in an epic one-on-one fight to the death, he does not deal the final blow. The creative decision to have Sindri dispense with Odin seems very intentional – it robs Odin of the warrior‘s death he likely desired, while allowing Kratos to break the cycle of violence that consumed much of his early life.
What did you think of God of War Ragnarok‘s climax? Let me know in the comments!
