Professional Documents
Culture Documents
By Mykas0
version 1.13
27-2-2009
BE SURE TO READ THIS FIRST PART! You can read this faq as long as you
don't change ANY part of it (including this small introduction). Also,
you can print it but only for use at your home, you may NEVER sell
this stuff or else you will make me really mad and maybe I won't work
anymore! Finally, if you want to use this faq on your site you have to
mail me and ask me for it, I will almost surely grant it to you!
1~. Introduction
A couple months ago, when I first had the opportunity to play the first
"God of War", I was astonished at the quality of the storyline that this
game presents players with. Sure, it's not fully based on Greek Mythology,
but introduces the player to a world where gods actively interact with
humans and help them in their tasks.
Following the story of a Spartan warrior called Kratos, a character
created for the game, one who buys this game will be introduced to an
amazing adventure that clearly resembles the ones you can read in most
Greek myths. Sure, the game is way too violent and not suitable for those
younger players (if you're a parent, keep this in mind!), but provided you
(try to...) disregard such point, you'll have an interesting time with
this game.
So, what's this guide all about? Instead of focusing in this game's actual
storyline and becoming a simple plot guide, this guide was written for
those who love Greek Mythology but, for one reason or another won't be
playing the game. I will mention how most mythological elements were used,
following the same order stated in the games and connecting those elements
to the actual myths. Either if you like this mythology or not, the content
which I'll be writing about may turn out being quite interesting for you
to read, as it may give possible hints at what will happen on future
games, apart from unveiling details of the games which most players may
not be fully aware of. BE AWARE THAT THIS GUIDE CONTAINS HEAVY SPOILERS,
making it probably unsuitable for those who don't want their experience to
be spoiled.
Finally, and before advancing to the actual content, I would like to thank
IGN.com for their Strategy Guides, which are quite good. Reading their
documents, I was able to write this guide without constantly checking the
actual games, which would take too much time.
While you can still play this game if you don't have the first one, it
will be slightly harder to understand its storyline. This product has a
lot more mythological references than the first one, most of which may go
unnoticed if you're not fully familiar with the actual myths. Most
monsters from the first game reappear in this one, apart from some new
foes and some interesting surprises, which fans of Greek Mythology may
like.
2.1~. Eagle
Although more real than mythical, this huge statue depicting Helios used
to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. With his legs open
over the entrance to the harbour of Rhodes, the outside of this statue and
its inside were probably designed in the very same way that is depicted in
this game. Also, the final fate given to the statue (i.e. destroyed by an
earthquake) can relate to the its destruction in this game, where most of
the statue is destroyed in a way that could be consistent to the
destruction caused by such natural causes.
That mighty sword, which seems to drain the powers of its user, didn't
existed in Greek Mythology. Its relationship with Zeus and Titanomachy
itself was probably created to prevent a problem in the storyline.
According to the myths, in order to beat the Titans the Olympians were
given weapons built by the Cyclops: Zeus got his famous bolts, Hades
received the incredible invisibility cap and Poseidon acquired his
trident.
Since Poseidon's trident and Zeus' bolt had already appeared in the first
game, they needed some sort of weapon that could substitute them. This
kind of sword was a good choice, since Hades' invisibility cap would be
appearing in this new game, further in the story.
While this weapon does not have a mythological origin, it was added to the
game in a way that seems plausible and fits the actual myth, with its
power actually helping to defeat the Titans, exactly like the original
weapons had done.
2.4~. Zeus
Both the first appearance of the god and all the following ones are quite
consistent with the myth. Initially he just strikes with his sword, but as
you advance further in the game, there will be a time where you'll face
the most powerful of the Olympians in all his power. As you may suppose,
later he will not only strike you with the sword but also use his lighting
bolts against your character, giving even more of a trouble, exactly as
the actual mythological god would have done. Be aware that the strenght of
his bolts is harshly diminished, with these bolts merely hurting your
character, unlike the ones of the myth, which would instantly kill
someone. In physical terms, the god shown in this game is quite consistent
with the depiction made in the myths and Greek icons, which is rather
astonishing.
2.5~. Gaia
Once more, your character (Kratos) is thrown into the realm of Hades and
has to escape from it. Initially, such small adventure seems to occur in a
simple way, with the character being taken by a shadow-like figure which
could be interpreted as one of Thanatos forms, but the whole sequence of
the main character escaping from the underworld is rather boring and is
probably inspired by the Christian view of hell, with strange hands trying
to pull you back to the place where you belong.
According to the Greek Myths, there were no such demoniac hands in the
underworld, with souls being stopped from escaping by the watchful eye of
the deadly Cerberus or a huge river, which was only possible to cross with
the aid of Charon, the ferryman who was supposed to take souls to the
depths of Hades, never allowing them to come back.
2.7~. Pegasus
2.8~. Griffin
There's not much to say about these creatures, fought when Kratos is
flying on Pegasus' back. They are consistent with the myths, presenting
the body of a lion but also featuring the head and wings of a giant eagle,
with which it attacks his opponents.
2.9~. Prometheus
According to the Greek myth, Prometheus was one of the Titans and the
biggest benefactor of mankind, to which he gave the important gift of
fire, among some others. For such imprudence, he would be punished by
Zeus, who would chain him to some rocks. There, this Titan would have his
liver daily eaten by an eagle, before being fully restored during the
night.
In this game, the depiction of Prometheus may be consistent with the
myths, but it is strange to see that he was merely shown as a human being,
while other Titans (like Gaia or Atlas) were depicted as giantic
creatures, with monster-like bodies.
Unlike what happens in the myths, where the figure called Kratos is one
of the entities in charge of chaining the titan, this game's hero releases
Prometheus from his terrible punishment, also gaining a gift from his
deed. This further presents this Titan as a helpful entity, exactly like
the one from the myths.
2.10~. Typhon
2.11~. Lakhesis
Shortly after leaving Typhon's domains, your character will find himself
in a place called "Temple of Lakhesis". There weren't any temples in
Ancient Greece where such deity was worshiped. Instead, she was one of the
three Moirae, the Greek personification of Fate, and she was personally in
charge of measuring the size of people's string of life, apart from
setting the fate of each mortal. It is probably due to such feature that
this deity is more important to the storyline than the other two sisters,
since she was the one in charge of setting fates.
It is discussable if she could actually change fates or not, but it is
highly unlikeable. Most Greek myths present Fate as being totally
unavoidable, a reality that controls even the most powerful of gods,
leading everyone to unavoidable paths. Back then, fates were never
changed, mostly because the location of the Moirae's realm was absolutely
unknown, preventing people from venturing into those domains.
Kratos' quest to change his present and future is simply an interesting
storyline, with no relationship with the Greek myths, as you can clearly
understand by the difficulty of entering such domains. Zeus stated more
than once, during the Trojan War, that not even he could change fates, and
if such powerful god couldn't do it, why would a Spartan be able to? From
a mythological sense, it would make no sense whatsoever.
2.12~. Theseus
Generally attacking your character with a spear, the character who bears
this name seems to be a lot more powerful than its mythological
counterpart, who was a mortal hero. It is specially interesting to see
this enemy summoning several Minotaur-like enemies during your battle
against him, since it was the original Thesus who killed the famous Cretan
Minotaur. However, I fail to see the sense in giving him the title of
"keeper of the horses", since there is no particular myth that connects
him to any sort of horses.
Obviously helpful, this amulet which allows players to slow down time
didn't existed in the Greek myths. Besides, time itself was more
associated with Chronos (don't confuse it with the Titan Cronos!) than
with the Moirae, whose control was the one of fate, not time.
2.15~. Cyclops
A small note on these creatures, which had already appeared in the first
game: unlike before, they are now depicted as vicious creatures that
actually have a single eye. When removed, that eye even works as bonus for
the player, unlocking secret content when you get 20 of those important
eyes.
This monster can now be ridden by enemies, but not by the player himself,
who needs to take the opponents away from this large beasts before killing
them.
It's possible that this boss is based in the people who lived in the upper
part of Asia, the barbarian who would eventually cause the fall of the
Roman Empire. However, in a mythological sense, this enemy boss doesn't
appear to have been based in any known myth.
In the game, this odd item allows players to reflect beam-like attacks,
returning their power to its very own caster. In a more mythological view,
this item didn't have any sort of special power, at least a known one. It
appears in the myth of Jason and the Argonauts, where their main tasks is
to retrieve this item, who is stuck on top of a tree and guarded by a
fearsome dragon. This object is usually considered nothing more than a
mere object, bearing no special powers and with the only interesting of
being a unique object and, therefore, an interesting curiosity that people
want to possess.
2.18~. Euryale
Like her sister Medusa, Euryale was one of the three Gorgons and possessed
the power of turning those who look at her into stone. Physically, she
looks like a fat Medusa, in the usual incarnation that is nothing more
than a serpent-woman with snakes as hair.
When he think about the myths, Euryale was usually depicted the same way
as her mortal sister, with hair composed by snakes, teeth as large as
boars' tusks, huge claws and golden wings. The original game didn't
followed this depiction for Medusa, exactly as this second title fails to
do it for Euryale, whose head is later used for the same task as Medusa's.
There's also an interesting detail that should be stated, when talking
about Euryale: unlike her sister Medusa, this entity was immortal. It is
obviously discussable if this monster dies after having her head taken out
of her body, but I would believe so, which obviously goes against the myth
of this horrible Gorgon.
2.19~. Atropos
2.20~. Perseus
One of the most famous Greek heroes, the figure that Kratos fights in this
game is curiously similar to the one referred in the myths. If you're
paying attention to the game, you can easily notice that he has his three
most famous objects: the invisibility cap of Hades, along with the sword
and shield (already containing the head of the Medusa!) that Athena
previously gave him. In the myths, Medusa's head was only put in the
shield after the end of Perseus' adventures, which slightly allows you to
place the game after the occurence of those stories.
Despite its look, his shield doesn't seem to contain any kind of special
power, making the battle slightly easy. Instead, the battle starts with
this opponent instantly using the legendary power of Hades' cap, which the
player later destroys. As for the shield and the sword, they seem not to
contain any kind of special ability, serving as mere battles devices which
Perseus uses to fight your character.
Be sure to notice the absence of Hermes' sandals, which (according to the
myth) allowed him to fly, or simply walk faster than normal mortals. It is
possible that such item is reserved to a later game.
The reason who moves this character in his quest to find the Moirae isn't
very explicit in the game, but it is possible that it is all a big
misunderstanding, with the producers of the game relying in popular
culture insted of going for the actual myth. In fact, it is hard to
understand if this character is actually Daedalus ("Have you never heard
of Icarus?", i.e. what has become of him) or Icarus himself ("Have you
never heard of Icaurs?", i.e. himself), and after receiving a ton of
e-mails on the subject I thought I should mention it here.
Personally, I think that the character is most likely Daedalus, Icarus'
father, looking for a way to bring his son back. This possibility would go
against the actual myth, where Daedalus dies in a city ruled by a famous
king, where he was having an happy life.
However, since this character never actually identifies himself, this is
nothing more than a mere theory. One can clearly understand that he is
related to the myth stated above, but that's all we can understand by now.
Either if this character is actually supposed to be Icarus or not, his
wings are here depicted as simple instruments that allow the player to
maintain their course while in the air. In fact, the actual wings designed
by Daedalus (and wrongly attributed to Icarus) allowed its bearer to fly
up in the sky, which is a clear function easy to notice in the myth. While
I failed to find any kind of sense in this difference between the game and
the myth, a contributor mailed me an interesting theory: the original
wings were designed for lighter bodies, which could prevent Kratos from
actually using them to fly.
2.23~. Atlas
Not much is known about Atlas' physical depiction, except that he was the
Titan in charge of holding the weight of the sky in his shoulders. Oddly,
a misconception seems to put him holding the Earth, the sky, a task that
he is shown performing in the game. He looks like a huge being, with
rock-like skin and extreme strenght, a feature obviously required to
perform his classical task, and the player even gets to visit the inside
of such massive creature, in one of strangest moments of the game.
Kratos even gets to talk with this titan, who seems to be slightly angry
at the hero, for reasons that are clarified in a PSP game, "God of War:
Chains of Olympus".
2.24~. Boreas
The actual divinity is never seen in-game, but there's a puzzle involving
Boreas (the god of the north wind, usually a cold one) and its hail, which
the hero must place in a statue's mouth in order to continue his
adventure. Be aware that this is a more obscure divinity, one that people
hardly know of, and its inclusion in this game is a possibly hint that the
next game of the series may include minor gods, with the player possibly
fighting them, along with all the major gods of the Olympus.
2.25~. Kraken
There are several Greek myths and old legends that talk about mysterious
octopus-like creatures that inhabit the sea, which sink ships and cause
horror in the hearts of sailors. While no Greek legend leads precisely to
the Kraken, which is a nordic myth, it is possible that this creature was
summoned by Poseidon in order to halt the advance of Kratos, making him
confront such a powerful aquatic creature.
The monster has all the usual characteristics provided to this kind of
beast, including a huge head and enormous tentacles, with which he can
grab people and cause massive damage.
While fighting these two divinities, you'll probably notice that their
depiction does not exactly coincide with the Greek one, where they were
much your. Also, such battles make us think about the lack of the third
sister, Clotho, the one who is in charge of creating everyone's thread of
life. Such away status is explained later in the game, with these two
Moirae serving as mere introductions to the last one.
Their battle against the hero and subsequent death may lead us to think
that Kratos is now the person in charge of people's fates, but there is
something that we may think of: while the Moirae were fully aware of
Kratos quest to defeat them and change his fate, they did absolutely
nothing to prevent it from happening. Such lack of interaction may allow
us to understand that these three sisters simply obey to a (possible)
higher divinity, not being allowed to change fates by themselves. They are
simples slaves who perform a task, they are able to change anything at
all, even if it means their own death.
2.27~. Clotho
Unlike her two sisters, who were given a young appearance and cute bodies,
Clotho's depiction is more like the one of the Greeks, where all the
Moirae were shown as old women. Her many arms were probably added to give
more enphasis on the detail that she's the one in charge of creating the
thread that controls everyone's lifes, a role that is too overrated in
this game. She originally ONLY created the thread, had nothing to do with
its content, a task that was given to her sister Lakhesis.
Q: I would like to know more about [insert something here], can you please
tell me about it?
A: Well, I guess I may have missed some details, and if that's the case,
feel free to mail me about it. My e-mail address is stated at the end
of this guide.
- Everyone who likes my works, it's for those people that I like to work
in this type of project;
- People who rejected to go out with me these days, this way I stood
home, played this game and took the time to write this faq;
- IGN.com , for their "Strategy Guides", which helped me writing this very
same guide;
- Erin K., Voramir D. and Beth for mailing me about several myths;
End. Contacts
If you want, you may see my web page, just check it at the HTML
address www.geocities.com/Mykas0/ .
My e-mail is Mykas0 [at] gmail.com , use the following subject or I will
NEVER reply.