Description:
SPOILER WARNING In God of War (2018), the son of Kratos, the player-character, is named Atreus in honor of a fallen Spartan soldier from Kratos' past, but his name among the giants (jötnar) (LINK) is revealed to be Loki in the final quest of the main storyline. This revelation goes hand-in-hand with the discovery that Kratos' deceased wife, Faye, is actually Laufey (LINK), a jötunn who is known in the Prose Edda (LINK) only through her connection to Loki as his mother. He is named several times as Loki Laufeyjarson, which is remarkable in that it differs from the expected patronymic norms of Old Nordic societies, where the father's name would be expected as an indicator of lineage rather than the mother's. Loki's father is named Fárbauti (LINK), which is also Kratos' name among the Giants in the game (fitting, as it translates roughly to "furious striker" or "dangerous hitter"), about whom we also know nothing from the medieval texts aside from his relation to Loki as his father. The revelation of Atreus being Loki also retroactively sheds light on the battle against Baldur (LINK) which comes just before the father and son reach Jötunheim. Baldur, invulnerable to all threats by his mother Freyja's magic (LINK) (although Baldur's mother in the medieval texts is actually Frigg), attacks Atreus/Loki, who has a mistletoe arrow (LINK) jury-rigging his quiver-strap together which pierces Baldur's hand when he strikes. Like in Gylfaginning (LINK) in the Prose Edda, Mistletoe is the one thing from which Baldur's mother did not obtain an oath never to harm Baldur, since at the time it was too young and innocent. In the myth, Loki learns of this and crafts a mistletoe spear or arrow. All the gods are playing a game of throwing things at Baldur, watching with delight as they bounce harmlessly off of him, but Loki puts the mistletoe arrow into the hands of Baldur's blind brother, Höðr, who unknowingly kills Baldur with it. In God of War, the blind Höðr is not present, but he is perhaps represented in the ignorance of the power of the mistletoe to remove Baldur's invincibility, after which Kratos and Atreus are able to defeat and kill the god. Thus, through a clever subversion and rearrangement of the myths, God of War creates a new narrative with the old mythological material, and as Baldur falls dead, the first snows of Fimbulvetr (LINK) begin to fall, the first sign of Ragnarök (LINK).No links to Medieval Citations yet.