00:00:00
in the original God of War Trilogy
00:00:02
protagonist Kratos had very little
00:00:05
character development he basically only
00:00:07
had three character traits one he was
00:00:11
really angry all the time two he
00:00:13
responded to every challenge or insult
00:00:16
he encountered with immediate and
00:00:18
extreme violence and three he was really
00:00:22
good at smashing things he did have good
00:00:25
reason for being angry Ares the Greek
00:00:28
God of War tricked him into murdering
00:00:30
his own wife and daughter and that's
00:00:32
definitely a solid reason for being
00:00:35
really pissed off and seeking Revenge
00:00:37
however that anger and the theme of
00:00:40
Revenge generally are not explored with
00:00:44
any level of nuance or scrutiny in any
00:00:47
of the games Kratos doesn't seem to have
00:00:50
any self-awareness or willingness to
00:00:53
meaningfully self-reflect at all Kratos
00:00:56
never has to question his reasons or
00:00:59
motivation is never confronted with
00:01:02
questions of morality or whether he's
00:01:05
doing the right thing or whether there
00:01:07
might be other paths open to him to
00:01:10
right the wrong that was done to him and
00:01:12
his family I mean it sucks that you were
00:01:14
tricked into killing your wife and child
00:01:16
dude that's really terrible but before
00:01:19
then you are already a merciless Warrior
00:01:22
very willing to burn Villages down and
00:01:25
Slaughter anyone you encountered how
00:01:27
many wives and daughters had you already
00:01:30
killed very willingly how many Fathers
00:01:33
and Sons did you Slaughter on and off
00:01:35
the battlefield without ever giving it a
00:01:38
second thought Kratos is never
00:01:40
confronted with any of these questions
00:01:42
and so neither is the player Kratos
00:01:44
approaches every situation with oh I'm
00:01:47
so mad smash smash smash all the games
00:01:50
care about are these huge cinematic
00:01:52
climactic Monumental battles against the
00:01:55
gods and these battles are really cool
00:01:58
and hey look there's Eva even a sexual
00:02:01
intercourse minigame
00:02:04
these games can feel really juvenile at
00:02:06
times and when I first played them I was
00:02:09
a juvenile so I didn't care after
00:02:11
growing up playing nothing but Nintendo
00:02:13
games where every single character was
00:02:16
some Goody Two-Shoes do no evil selfless
00:02:19
Paragon of virtue playing as Kratos an
00:02:22
angry character who didn't seem to care
00:02:24
about doing what was right was actually
00:02:26
really exciting and all those moral and
00:02:29
thematic questions can be kind of
00:02:32
superseded by the simple fact that
00:02:34
Kratos is almost always acting in
00:02:37
self-defense all of these Gods and
00:02:40
Monsters and such are attacking him
00:02:43
first it's an interesting question what
00:02:45
the plot of these games would look like
00:02:47
if everyone was smart enough to just get
00:02:50
out of his way maybe he wouldn't have
00:02:52
heard anyone except the handful of evil
00:02:55
Gods who really deserved it that is
00:02:57
until the third game when Kratos actions
00:03:01
begin to seem more and more
00:03:03
reprehensible when he stops being
00:03:05
morally gray and at least partly
00:03:08
Justified and starts doing things that
00:03:10
seem very close to being outright evil
00:03:13
God of War 3 is this spectacular bloody
00:03:17
sweep through the entire Greek Mythos
00:03:20
where Kratos brutally Slaughters every
00:03:22
God demigod Titan hero mythical creature
00:03:27
Etc that has ever been mentioned in any
00:03:30
Greek story it's really cool it's one of
00:03:32
the best action video games ever made
00:03:34
for all my criticisms of the plot I have
00:03:37
to admit this is a really really well
00:03:40
crafted action game but very early in
00:03:45
the game it becomes clear that Kratos
00:03:47
slaughtering of the Greek gods is
00:03:49
affecting a lot more than just him when
00:03:52
he kills Poseidon a tsunami destroys the
00:03:56
coast of Greece when he kills Helios the
00:03:58
Sun goes out when he kills Hermes a
00:04:01
plague descends on Greece in this keeps
00:04:04
happening okay so the question has to be
00:04:07
asked is Kratos personal Revenge worth
00:04:10
the millions of lives of all the
00:04:12
innocent people living in Greece what
00:04:14
about all those wives and daughters do
00:04:17
they not matter to him at all if it was
00:04:19
a tragedy when he was tricked into
00:04:21
killing his wife and daughter what is it
00:04:23
when every wife and daughter in all of
00:04:26
Greece are killed as a result of his
00:04:29
actions the game never meaningfully
00:04:32
confronts Kratos with these questions
00:04:34
and so the player isn't confronted by
00:04:36
them either he never deals with these
00:04:39
questions at all even to say that he
00:04:40
doesn't care he just mindlessly trudges
00:04:43
from one Slaughter to the next now I'm
00:04:46
totally cool with stories about morally
00:04:48
gray or even morally evil characters I
00:04:51
definitely don't want every video game
00:04:52
to be about morally good characters who
00:04:55
always do the right thing that would be
00:04:57
narratively boring and inartistic
00:04:59
however if you're going to write a story
00:05:01
about a character like Kratos you do
00:05:03
have have to at least discuss it you
00:05:06
have to ask questions you have to take
00:05:09
some kind of substantial thematic
00:05:11
position on your subject what does it
00:05:13
mean for us for you for Humanity that we
00:05:17
might cheer for a character like Kratos
00:05:20
but the writers never ask any of these
00:05:23
questions I don't know if they're
00:05:24
unwilling to do so because they don't
00:05:27
want to challenge Their audience of teen
00:05:29
boys with tough questions about the
00:05:32
meaning of violence and what it means to
00:05:34
choose violence and in God of War 3
00:05:37
Kratos Slaughter gets less Justified as
00:05:40
it goes along at one point he is
00:05:42
confronted by a drunk and miserable
00:05:44
goddess hella everything around her has
00:05:47
collapsed her world and life have been
00:05:49
destroyed she is not a threat here she's
00:05:52
just a broken woman she doesn't even
00:05:54
really try to stop him and Kratos just
00:05:57
breaks her neck this is murder this is
00:06:00
bad in this other part of the game
00:06:02
Kratos grabs this terrified woman
00:06:05
enforces her to hold open these doors so
00:06:08
he can progress through a puzzle and
00:06:10
look she's naked
00:06:13
again this just feels so juvenile the
00:06:16
juxtaposition of sex appeal and cruel
00:06:19
violence is really uncomfortable but
00:06:22
anyway to solve the puzzle Kratos kills
00:06:25
her or at least leads her into getting
00:06:28
crushed to death by the door mechanism
00:06:30
and then he just keeps going who cares
00:06:32
about her just another dead wife or
00:06:35
daughter on Kratos journey to avenge the
00:06:37
death of his wife and daughter when I
00:06:39
was a teenager and I first played this I
00:06:42
wasn't that bothered by any of this I
00:06:44
was just here for the cool battles and
00:06:47
my empathy glands weren't fully
00:06:48
developed yet but when I replayed this
00:06:50
game years later in anticipation of the
00:06:53
2018 North mythology reboot of this
00:06:56
series I found it to be really
00:06:58
off-putting I did not enjoy playing as
00:07:01
this character he's a piece of Shame it
00:07:04
which would be fine except the writers
00:07:07
seem unwilling of writing a morally gray
00:07:09
character with any degree of nuance or
00:07:12
emotional depth he goes through the
00:07:14
whole series just being angry smart
00:07:16
smart smash have sex it's really
00:07:19
childish I almost wrote off the entire
00:07:22
reboot but then I read this preview of
00:07:24
the game where one of the writers talked
00:07:26
about the characterization of Kratos in
00:07:28
the new game he says Kratos believes
00:07:31
that being a God is a disease in that
00:07:34
rage is a side effect of that disease
00:07:37
and he's terrified that he's passed it
00:07:40
on to his son and this game is about
00:07:43
Kratos teaching his son how to be a God
00:07:45
in the kid teaching Kratos how to be
00:07:48
human again okay so that's really
00:07:50
interesting that sounds like a character
00:07:53
with a past of terrible rage and
00:07:55
violence who is going to actually
00:07:57
confront that past in a meaningful way
00:07:59
and is going to do so by raising his son
00:08:02
to be a better man than he he was I
00:08:05
think for a lot of men that's a really
00:08:06
meaningful story I want to be better
00:08:09
than my father I want my son to be
00:08:11
better than me these are powerful themes
00:08:14
that really matter and this is even more
00:08:16
interesting because one of the big
00:08:18
reveals in this series is that Zeus is
00:08:21
Kratos father and he's a pretty shitty
00:08:23
and worthless father who Kratos
00:08:25
ultimately kills so how does that
00:08:27
patricide affect Kratos in the raising
00:08:30
of his own son I was still very
00:08:32
skeptical of the 2018 reboot but then it
00:08:35
came out and I played it and wow I mean
00:08:38
really wow the 2018 God of War presented
00:08:41
a Kratos who had truly matured along
00:08:44
with his audience his original audience
00:08:46
of children and teenagers are adult men
00:08:49
now many of them with Children of their
00:08:51
own and that mindless violence and rage
00:08:53
of the previous games is not acceptable
00:08:56
to the Kratos of this new game just as
00:08:59
it should no longer be acceptable to us
00:09:01
at the start of the game Kratos is
00:09:03
already a father and he has a very poor
00:09:07
relationship with his son the mother has
00:09:09
just passed away and everybody is really
00:09:12
bummed out about it her final wish was
00:09:15
for her Ashes to be spread on the
00:09:17
highest Mountaintop in the land but
00:09:19
Kratos feels his son is incapable of the
00:09:22
journey bad feelings all around then
00:09:26
this guy shows up this is balder son of
00:09:30
Odin and Odin is the head of the Norse
00:09:32
pantheon of gods for narrative purposes
00:09:35
Kratos is essentially being confronted
00:09:38
with himself here balder is arrogant
00:09:41
full of Rage mindlessly violent doesn't
00:09:44
care who his violence hurts and resorts
00:09:47
to that violence immediately whenever
00:09:49
confronted with a problem and he's
00:09:51
really good at smashing things this is a
00:09:54
younger Kratos this is Kratos battling
00:09:56
his own younger self balder quickly
00:09:59
forces Kratos into a confrontation he
00:10:02
does not want setting crate his son off
00:10:05
on their Journey Kratos in this game is
00:10:08
still pretty angry and violent but
00:10:11
noticeably less so and noticeably tries
00:10:13
to avoid it when he can he doesn't want
00:10:16
to talk about the man he used to be does
00:10:18
not want to confront his past sins and
00:10:22
does not want his son to find out about
00:10:24
them notably he keeps the old weapons
00:10:27
with which he destroyed Greece hidden
00:10:29
underneath his home and orders his son
00:10:31
to Never Go Near The Hiding Place lest
00:10:34
his son discover who his father really
00:10:37
is Kratos does not want to confront his
00:10:40
past but he is forced to do so through
00:10:43
his son there's this moment early on in
00:10:45
the game when Kratos and his son are
00:10:48
attacked by a troll and when they defeat
00:10:50
it his son goes crazy and starts
00:10:53
stabbing its corpse in a petulant rage
00:10:56
this is a Proto version of the exact
00:10:58
kind of mindless violent rage that
00:11:01
Kratos used to lose himself to the
00:11:04
source of all his sins you can see it in
00:11:07
his son already you can see Kratos
00:11:09
seeing it in his own son and it deeply
00:11:12
disturbs him he needs to set his son on
00:11:15
a better path and he does not know how
00:11:17
to do this Kratos can't be the better
00:11:20
example that his son needs because he
00:11:23
cannot be the better man that he needs
00:11:25
to be until he confronts his own past
00:11:28
which he is unwilling to do instead
00:11:30
Kratos and his son both find that better
00:11:33
example in stories about tear tear is
00:11:37
the Norse god of war just like Kratos
00:11:39
was once the Greek God of War but unlike
00:11:42
Kratos tear used his powers to create
00:11:45
peace and Harmony among the races and
00:11:48
only ever went to war when there was no
00:11:50
other choice when he had to fight to
00:11:53
protect others while tear never actually
00:11:56
appears in the game he becomes something
00:11:59
of an inspiration to both Kratos and his
00:12:02
son the kind of God both of them M could
00:12:04
become and Kratos son really needs that
00:12:07
better example because almost every
00:12:10
powerful person he Encounters in the
00:12:12
story like balder are a piece of [ __ ]
00:12:15
and when the son finds out that he is a
00:12:17
God that he is powerful to the sun
00:12:19
begins to act like a piece of [ __ ]
00:12:22
following their example the only living
00:12:24
examples of a god he's ever known this
00:12:27
comes to a head when they are confronted
00:12:29
by a wounded Modi now Magnus and Modi
00:12:32
are sons of Thor the famous God of
00:12:35
Thunder though in these games he's
00:12:37
presented much more poorly than in the
00:12:39
Marvel movies Magnus and Modi had
00:12:42
previously attacked Kratos and Magnus
00:12:44
was killed in the confrontation Modi had
00:12:47
run away Modi reappears later a broken
00:12:51
and pathetic man beaten by his father
00:12:54
Thor who blames him for the death of his
00:12:56
brother and this is another example of a
00:12:58
broken father-son relationship in the
00:13:01
series Modi here is not a threat he's
00:13:04
already beaten and he's not even really
00:13:06
in their way they could just walk right
00:13:09
past him and then Kratos son murders him
00:13:12
anyway this is a very very similar to
00:13:15
the death of hella in God of War 3 which
00:13:18
is surely one of Kratos least Justified
00:13:20
acts of violence in his life and I don't
00:13:23
think that's an accident Kratos is
00:13:25
horrified by what his son has done
00:13:27
because his son is becoming exactly the
00:13:30
man he used to be his son is committing
00:13:32
these same disgusting acts of violence
00:13:34
as he did he is failing to set his son
00:13:37
on a better path and he knows it but how
00:13:39
can he confront this disease of Rage in
00:13:42
his son if he cannot confront his own
00:13:45
Past after they get trapped in literally
00:13:48
hell and his son keeps acting like a
00:13:50
little spoiled brat Kratos unleashes
00:13:53
this scolding on his son
00:13:56
you will listen to me and not speak a
00:13:58
word
00:13:58
I am your father and you boy are not
00:14:01
yourself
00:14:02
you are too good to temper you are rash
00:14:05
insubordinate and out of control
00:14:08
this will not stand
00:14:10
you honor your mother and abandon this
00:14:13
path you have chosen
00:14:16
it's not too late
00:14:21
it's far from over
00:14:23
we are here because of you boy
00:14:27
never forget that
00:14:35
in many ways this is exactly the kind of
00:14:37
talk that a younger Kratos needed to
00:14:40
hear from a father figure this is what
00:14:42
he needed to hear to curb his own worst
00:14:45
impulses he needed someone to slap his
00:14:47
hand and say this is not an acceptable
00:14:50
way to behave and not an acceptable way
00:14:53
to treat others he never got that and
00:14:56
look how his life turned out krato's
00:14:58
journey still isn't over though while
00:15:00
he's confronted those rage-filled parts
00:15:02
of his son he still hasn't confronted it
00:15:05
in himself near the climax Kratos and
00:15:08
balder have won final confrontation and
00:15:11
it is crazy Kratos and his son and
00:15:14
balder are battling it out while
00:15:16
Baldur's mother Freya is trying to stop
00:15:18
them by possessing the corpse of this
00:15:21
giant and it's really wild very cool the
00:15:25
end of this confrontation is really
00:15:27
fascinating Kratos beats balder because
00:15:29
I mean of course he does but for what
00:15:32
I'm pretty sure is the first time in his
00:15:34
life after defeating another god Kratos
00:15:37
chooses to let that God live and it's
00:15:41
all at the insistence of his son this is
00:15:43
actual real demonstrable character
00:15:46
growth this is a character who has made
00:15:48
the same mistake over and over and over
00:15:51
in his life and for the first time ever
00:15:54
is choosing another path but it doesn't
00:15:57
end there remember balder is Kratos he
00:16:01
is just a younger Kratos as soon as he
00:16:03
lets Boulder go balder continues on his
00:16:06
path of violence and destruction he
00:16:08
immediately begins strangling Freya
00:16:11
Kratos grabs him and says the cycle ends
00:16:14
here we must be better than this and
00:16:18
kills him in some ways this can feel
00:16:20
like a contradictory moment Kratos has
00:16:23
just chosen pacifism and compassion over
00:16:26
violence and then immediately turns
00:16:28
around and chooses the opposite again
00:16:30
but remember who Kratos and his son are
00:16:33
looking up to as an example of a good
00:16:35
god tear tear was a God of War he fought
00:16:38
when he had to he fought to protect
00:16:41
others Kratos isn't going to kill balder
00:16:44
just for being a pain in his ass like he
00:16:46
did every other person he ever killed
00:16:49
but he will kill balder to protect
00:16:51
someone else and when he's finally
00:16:53
completed this transformation from Wild
00:16:56
rage and hate-filled murderer who
00:16:59
committed violence without thought or
00:17:01
question into someone who only chooses
00:17:03
violence for the protection of others
00:17:05
that's when he's finally able to openly
00:17:07
confront his own violent past his own
00:17:10
past sins boy
00:17:14
listen close
00:17:18
I'm from a land called Sparta
00:17:21
I made a deal with the god that caused
00:17:24
me my soul
00:17:26
I killed many who were deserving
00:17:32
and many who were not
00:17:38
[Music]
00:17:44
I killed my father
00:17:46
[Music]
00:17:48
that was your father in health
00:17:53
that's what it is to be a god
00:17:55
[Music]
00:17:58
this letter always ends
00:18:01
Sun's killing their mothers
00:18:04
their fathers
00:18:08
[Music]
00:18:13
did not those who have been
00:18:17
who I was
00:18:19
is not who you
00:18:22
'll be we must be better
00:18:24
[Music]
00:18:28
it's hard to over exaggerate how
00:18:32
unprecedented a moment this is in the
00:18:35
history of narrative in video games the
00:18:38
medium of video games does not have the
00:18:41
same reputation for Meaningful
00:18:43
storytelling that books and film do and
00:18:46
that's for good reason in many ways
00:18:48
video games are still a very very young
00:18:51
medium and storytelling has never really
00:18:54
been the focus looking through the
00:18:56
history of video games most stories are
00:18:59
just Vehicles do get to the gameplay
00:19:01
with rare exceptions those kinds of
00:19:04
stories which only serve the gameplay
00:19:07
tend to be simplistic tend to lack
00:19:10
nuance and complexity tend to not ask
00:19:13
the player hard questions about what's
00:19:15
happening on screen the original God of
00:19:18
War Trilogy is exactly the kind of
00:19:20
simplistic even childish storytelling
00:19:23
where all the writers cared about was
00:19:25
setting up up the next big fight not
00:19:27
caring at all about the meaning of what
00:19:30
they were creating not caring about the
00:19:33
questions not caring about the emotions
00:19:35
not caring about the Thematic
00:19:37
consequences of their character's
00:19:39
choices and what they were saying about
00:19:41
the world or what we as Their audience
00:19:43
value this is the first time in video
00:19:46
game narrative history that a character
00:19:48
from a narratively juvenile Series has
00:19:51
gone from a simplistic and Mindless
00:19:53
vehicle for cool action sequences to
00:19:56
being a mature nuanced and self-aware
00:19:59
character this is pretty amazing and I
00:20:02
strongly suspect from a narrative
00:20:04
standpoint that the God of War series
00:20:06
should have ended right here the sequel
00:20:09
God of War Ragnarok is releasing next
00:20:11
week and maybe I'll eat my words but I'm
00:20:14
not expecting it to tell as meaningful
00:20:16
of a story as this game did now as an
00:20:19
action fan and a fan of the series I
00:20:22
definitely still want to see Kratos
00:20:24
battle it out with the rest of the Norse
00:20:26
pantheon I want to spend more time
00:20:28
exploring the world of Norse mythology I
00:20:30
want to see more of all these characters
00:20:33
however from a narrative standpoint and
00:20:36
from a what does all this mean for video
00:20:39
games as a storytelling medium
00:20:41
standpoint I'm not sure what Ragnarok
00:20:44
can really accomplish that the first
00:20:46
game didn't already the story of Kratos
00:20:50
feels complete to me I don't think
00:20:52
there's much growth left for him to do
00:20:55
if Ragnarok was focused solely on the
00:20:58
sun solely on him trying to be that
00:21:00
better man that better God that his
00:21:03
father believes he can be then that
00:21:05
would be a different story but Kratos at
00:21:08
least according to all the marketing
00:21:10
material is going to remain the main
00:21:12
character and I'm not sure what story is
00:21:15
left for him to tell but hey maybe I'm
00:21:18
wrong and Ragnarok will knock my socks
00:21:20
off I guess we'll all see here in a week
00:21:24
two
00:21:27
two
00:21:31
oh yeah
00:21:36
oh
