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Does Kratos every attack first without a warning? (Is Kratos a villain?)

sn00zer

Member
A lot of people really dont like Kratos. I personally do, just because the games just wouldnt work without him, can't have a heroic character ripping off heads of medusas and skeleton armies. Thats not the point. A lot of people describe Kratos as the villain in the God of War series, killing without care and slaughtering the pantheon of gods who had nothing to do with his beef with Zeus/Ares.

Ive played through all of the God of Wars and Im trying to remember a time when Kratos has killed a character (outside of random mortals, which fits in the whole Greek god mythos where mortals drop dead left and right) without warning or being attacked first. Arguably he gives everyone (from what I remember) a warning first "stay out of my way", "give me what I want". Which would make Kratos a dick, but not necessarily a villain.

Anyway so does Kratos ever attack first without warning in the god of war series against a nonmonster character?
 
A lot of people really dont like Kratos. I personally do, just because the games just wouldnt work without him, can't have a heroic character ripping off heads of medusas and skeleton armies. Thats not the point. A lot of people describe Kratos as the villain in the God of War series, killing without care and slaughtering the pantheon of gods who had nothing to do with his beef with Zeus.

Ive played through all of the God of Wars and Im trying to remember a time when Kratos has killed a character (outside of random mortals, which fits in the whole Greek god mythos where mortals drop dead left and right) without warning or being attacked first. Arguably he gives everyone (from what I remember) a warning first "stay out of my way", "give me what I want". Which would make Kratos a dick, but not necessarily a villain.

Anyway so does Kratos ever attack first without warning in the god of war series against a nonmonster character?

Give me what I want or I'm going to murder you isn't exactly heroic.
 

Edzi

Member
Pretty sure he regularly murders innocents to solve puzzles.

EDIT: Nvm, just realized you said mortals don't count.
 
I bet there were.
He's the ultimate rebel, an ultimate fuck you to "the man". He's unlike any protagonists on the market and I love him.
 

~Devil Trigger~

In favor of setting Muslim women on fire
Kratos seeks his vengeance with too much recklessness.

But thats the kinda character he is, he's psychologically broken beyond repair over the death of his family.

he's nothing but anger
 

Steel

Banned
In God of War 1 he was more or less the hero. He was a god damned unsuccessful one, every single solitary person he tried to save on the ship in the tutorial level died, but he did try(well, he didn't give a fuck about the men anyway). He was more or less after redemption with revenge coming up in the form of ares.

Then he gets a taste of real power in God of War II and no longer gives a fuck about redemption. It's all about revenge from then on.
 
Pretty sure he regularly murders innocents to solve puzzles.
Why do the puzzles in his world require innocents to be murdered to begin with?

Yeah, he murders innocents every now and then, but he also murders monsters. Do villains murder monsters? Also, he's a warrior, and warriors aren't really the goodie-goodie types.
 
Kratos cops a lot of shit for being bad in God of War, but have you read up on any of the source material for this stuff? Pretty much the entire Greek pantheon is made up of assholes, jerks, murderers, rapists, and cheats, and combinations of those things. The fact that the designers made up a totally morally indefensible jackhole for a protagonist kind of fits in with the mythology (GoW Kratos has pretty much nothing to do with the actual Kratos).

It's more the presentation of Kratos that I find irritating, not his actions. There's a cool character hiding in his asshatery but he comes across more like an angry nu-metal band mascot than a scary old mythological character. It's not that he's evil, more just that he's sort of boring. He's more petulant than actively villainous.
 
Most of the time he asks them to not interfere with his business, but they do and Kratos kills the shit out of them. Hell even after Hera ordered his death he had no desire to kill her until she spoke ill of Pandora.

I just watched a video in which Kratos grabbed a lady and kicked her around the level until he used her to prop up a door which ended up snapping her in half. In this case, give me what I want or I'll kill you was "die on this door so I can move forward or I'll kill you."

What a hero.
 
I just watched a video in which Kratos grabbed a lady and kicked her around the level until he used her to prop up a door which ended up snapping her in half. In this case, give me what I want or I'll kill you was "die on this door so I can move forward or I'll kill you."

What a hero.

I said "Most of the Time"
 

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
Kratos is less of a villain, and more of an angry male power fantasy taken to its logical conclusion with a tragic backstory tacked on as a thin justification for tearing heads off willy-nilly.
 
Wait a second, what am I thinking? The question is has Kratos ever attacked random people without warning?

The entire crux of the God of War series is that Kratos is such a fucking sociopath that he blames Ares for his wife and childs death, despite the fact that he somehow didn't realize he was in his hometown, and ran straight into buildings murdering random people so hard and so fast he didn't even realize he had killed his own family until after the deed. The very first thing that happens in God of Wars story is him randomly killing people without warning.
 
There was also that time he forced an old man to awaken the phoenix in GOW2.
Also sacrificed a Spartan to open a door or something in GOW1.
 
Wait a second, what am I thinking? The question is has Kratos ever attacked random people without warning?

The entire crux of the God of War series is that Kratos is such a fucking sociopath that he blames Ares for his wife and childs death, despite the fact that he somehow didn't realize he was in his hometown, and ran straight into buildings murdering random people so hard and so fast he didn't even realize he had killed his own family until after the deed. The very first thing that happens in God of Wars story is him randomly killing people without warning.
Wasn't he drunk off the power Ares had given him? Or wasn't he in a way possessed? I mean, killing his wife and child.
 

Steel

Banned
Wait a second, what am I thinking? The question is has Kratos ever attacked random people without warning?

The entire crux of the God of War series is that Kratos is such a fucking sociopath that he blames Ares for his wife and childs death, despite the fact that he somehow didn't realize he was in his hometown, and ran straight into buildings murdering random people so hard and so fast he didn't even realize he had killed his own family until after the deed. The very first thing that happens in God of Wars story is him randomly killing people without warning.

Well actually he wasn't in his hometown, his wife and child had moved elsewhere so that she could become a preistess of Athena, thus why Athena cursed Kratos for murdering her.
 
The entire crux of the God of War series is that Kratos is such a fucking sociopath that he blames Ares for his wife and childs death, despite the fact that he somehow didn't realize he was in his hometown, and ran straight into buildings murdering random people so hard and so fast he didn't even realize he had killed his own family until after the deed. The very first thing that happens in God of Wars story is him randomly killing people without warning.

Ummm no. Kratos was attacking villages sworn to athena, not Spartan villages, let alone his hometown.
 

-Ryn

Banned
If I recall didn't he kill people/Gods who were even willing to help or co operate with him?

I would definitely say he's a villain.
There's a point when it doesn't matter what your intentions originally were; you've crossed done arguably worse things than the people you are trying to kill.

Plus I'm pretty sure he's just a really scary looking 5 year old

Kratos seeks his vengeance with too much recklessness.

But thats the kinda character he is, he's psychologically broken beyond repair over the death of his family.

he's nothing but anger
I think he lost any sympathy he might've had there when he started slaughtering the innocent en masse.

Not that you said otherwise
 
Mortals don't count? kind of bullshit is that?

dude was a straight up a villain after GoW1/beginning of GoW2, he was worse than Ares with how he helped Sparta go on a path of destruction.

Hell GoW 2 could have easily been a game with a new hero trying to take down the new God of War who's more bloodthirsty than Ares was.
 

Tizoc

Member
Kratos is just a selfish simple-minded asshole.
Don't get me wrong, I find that it fit with GoW1's setting and plot but by 2, he's gone off the far end that one wonders why you're even exploring all those fantastically designed locals and as a bloodthirsty psychopath.
 
Wasn't he drunk off the power Ares had given him? Or wasn't he in a way possessed?

I'm not sure where this explanation comes from. Ares powered him up as his servant, but there's no indication as far as I'm aware that he was drunk or bloodlusted out of his mind or some shit. The flashback cutscenes have him swinging at dark shapes the instant he walks through the door, he didn't care who the fuck it was, and only after does he kill them does he feel bad, and it's RIGHT after too, so I doubt he could use the excuse that he was bloodlusted out of his mind or some shit or he would never have even noticed. He was totally down with burning entire towns to the ground until it was his family, because he's a fucking monster.

Well actually he wasn't in his hometown, his wife and child had moved elsewhere so that she could become a preistess of Athena, thus why Athena cursed Kratos for murdering her.

Ummm no. Kratos was attacking villages sworn to athena, not Spartan villages, let alone his hometown.

Thanks, that part always stuck with me. But that doesn't really change my core point. He didn't care when it was other peoples families, but oh no, it was my family, and that makes it ARES' fault somehow?
 

Steel

Banned
we need some video of his evil actions because i really dont remember a lot of the shit he did.

In one of the psp games he literally dooms Atlantis single handedly to get past something. I can't quite remember what it was, maybe it was a door or something? I also think that he used the guy who was complaining about his actions to jam the gears or something like that.
 

-Ryn

Banned
Why do the puzzles in his world require innocents to be murdered to begin with?

Yeah, he murders innocents every now and then, but he also murders monsters. Do villains murder monsters? Also, he's a warrior, and warriors aren't really the goodie-goodie types.
Just because you're both evil doesn't mean you share the same goals or even like each other. They aren't exactly one big ol' scociopathic happy family.

Also, Warriors aren't exactly anything at all.
Some Warriors have a strict code of honor that they adhere to. Others couldn't give two flying ass cheeks what they do.
 
I'm not sure where this explanation comes from. Ares powered him up as his servant, but there's no indication as far as I'm aware that he was drunk or bloodlusted out of his mind or some shit. The flashback cutscenes have him swinging at dark shapes the instant he walks through the door, he didn't care who the fuck it was, and only after does he kill them does he feel bad, and it's RIGHT after too, so I doubt he could use the excuse that he was bloodlusted out of his mind or some shit or he would never have even noticed. He was totally down with burning entire towns to the ground until it was his family, because he's a fucking monster.





Thanks, that part always stuck with me. But that doesn't really change my core point. He didn't care when it was other peoples families, but oh no, it was my family, and that makes it ARES' fault somehow?
Isn't that how it usually goes for warriors? "I'll kill anyone in my path, but don't fuck with my family"?
 
Awfully convenient to ignore the mortals given how he kills a metric fuckton of them during God of War III. Not to mention what happens to Poseidon's princess...ugh.
 
In one of the psp games he literally dooms Atlantis single handedly to get past something. I can't quite remember what it was, maybe it was a door or something? I also think that he used the guy who was complaining about his actions to jam the gears or something like that.

lmao... yeah kratos is a villain
 

Veelk

Banned
My complete thoughts on Kratos.

Long story short, he's a weak, stupid, raging asshole with no redeeming qualities to speak of. He kills everything because he refuses to take responsibility for his own idiocy, blaming everyone else so he doesn't have to blame himself. And while the games themselves are fun, his game play isn't consistent with the image of power he portrays. He's pathetic in every meaningful sense of the word.

Worst protagonist I've ever played. There is almost nothing positive you can say about him. This isn't even about him being evil so much as a failure of a human being. Gaming would be better off without him.
 
Thanks, that part always stuck with me. But that doesn't really change my core point. He didn't care when it was other peoples families, but oh no, it was my family, and that makes it ARES' fault somehow?

Kratos is a Soldier, and loyalty is something he respects and values. Ares tricking him was the ulitmate betrayal of his loyalty. Even with his bloodlust Kratos would never order a loyal soldier to kill his family.
 
Isn't that how it usually goes for warriors? "I'll kill anyone in my path, but don't fuck with my family"?

Yeah but it was YOU Kratos! YOU did it! I don't see how you can handwave his murder of his own family (that he wouldnt have cared about unless it was his) and all the dead mortals that he jams into gears and such. He's worse than villainous. Villains enjoy being evil, or have some kind of goal. He's completely amoral, and all he wants is revenge, and doesn't care about fucking anything. He's the worst.

Kratos is a Soldier, and loyalty is something he respects and values. Ares tricking him was the ulitmate betrayal of his loyalty. Even with his bloodlust Kratos would never order a loyal soldier to kill his family.

So he's not a villain because he didn't know it was his own family? Despite all the others he killed in that raid? So if my brother shoots me in a mugging, but didn't know it was me at the time, he's basically the good guy right? A real hero.
 
I like Kratos. People say he is one dimensional, which he is at times, but it's still better than 90% of the white thirtysomething males with dark hair and bland personalities.
 

Skilletor

Member
He killed all of the gods which affected earth, and didn't care what happened on the planet so long as he killed the people he felt needed killing.

He's a sociopath and a villain.

I like Kratos. People say he is one dimensional, which he is at times, but it's still better than 90% of the white thirtysomething males with dark hair and bland personalities.

So he's less shitty than the other shittily written protagonists in videogames? What praise.
 
Why do the puzzles in his world require innocents to be murdered to begin with?

Yeah, he murders innocents every now and then, but he also murders monsters. Do villains murder monsters? Also, he's a warrior, and warriors aren't really the goodie-goodie types.
I would say that villains murder monsters. I'd say killing anything that gets in your way would make you a villain, whether they're monsters or not. Especially since these are sentient monsters we're talking about.
 

Steel

Banned
So he's not a villain because he didn't know it was his own family? Despite all the others he killed in that raid? So if my brother shoots me in a mugging, but didn't know it was me at the time, he's basically the good guy right? A real hero.

Nah man, he's a "greek hero". Do you know what kind of shit Hercules did? Granted you have other greek heroes like Odyseuss, but still.
 
He killed all of the gods which affected earth, and didn't care what happened on the planet so long as he killed the people he felt needed killing.

He's a sociopath and a villain.



So he's less shitty than the other shittily written protagonists in videogames? What praise.

Him giving humanity
Hope
was hardly not caring about what happened on the planet...
 

-Ryn

Banned
Isn't that how it usually goes for warriors? "I'll kill anyone in my path, but don't fuck with my family"?
No not really...

What warriors are you talking about? If you wanted to say "Isn't that how it usually goes for Spartans" then sure. But warriors aren't one culture of fighters.
 
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