God of War’s soft reboot back in 2018 saw Kratos take on the Norse gods of the Nine Realms after defeating the Greek pantheon in the original trilogy, now with his young son Atreus at his side. The game heavily implied that Ragnarok – the mythological end of the world and twilight of the gods – would be the center of the next game, a theory seemingly confirmed by a teaser trailer for a sequel claiming that “Ragnarok is coming.”
The prophesized events of Rangarok are discussed in the game in conversations with Mimir and when observing the Jotunheim mural towards the end of God of War 2018. However, not all of them quite make sense in light of God of War’s timeline, which could mean that one feature from God of War 2 will be making a comeback in the story: time travel. This could have both pros and cons that the developers at Santa Monica Studio will have to consider.
Ragnarok is the end of the world in Norse mythology, and has become an increasingly well-known myth over the last few years with movies like Thor: Ragnarok bringing it to the front of popular culture. Unfortunately for scholars but fortunately for God of War fans, there are very few sources on Ragnarok. Almost all of the details about the myth come from 13th century Icelandic lawspeaker and historian Snorri Sturlson, who provided accounts in his Prose Edda and Poetic Edda long after Christianity became the country’s official religion.
This makes it easy to tell what the God of War developers will be using as the basis for Ragnarok as realized in the upcoming game, but there are some details which don’t align with the story of Atreus and Kratos as seen so far. The biggest difference is that the mythological Ragnarok both the World Serpent that kills Thor and Fenrir the wolf who eats Odin are children of Loki, the god of deceit.
It is revealed in God of War 2018 that Atreus is Loki – it was the alternate name his mother wanted for him. However, players already meet the World Serpent in the last God of War when Atreus is still a child. Mimir also references Fenrir using his alternate name, Hrodvitnir, and tells Atreus about the chain the dwarves made to hold back the great wolf, confirming that he also exists during the first game.
The beginning of the Ragnarok myth also involves Loki escaping from imprisonment deep under the earth, where he has been bound since his involvement in the death of Baldur. While Atreus is certainly involved in Baldur’s death in God of War, in the myth Loki is imprisoned while his wife Sigyn holds a bowl to collect the venom from a serpent who is used to torture the trickster god in his imprisonment. With Atreus so young, time travel is one of the few ways Loki’s full role in Ragnarok could be realized in the next game.
2007’s God of War 2 featured time travel as a huge part of its plotline. At the start of God of War 2 Kratos is betrayed and killed by his father Zeus, but after being rescued by the Titan Gaia is later able to find the Sisters of Fate and steal the Loom of Fate to return to the moment of his betrayal.
This could provide the basis for Loki’s role in Ragnarok. It’s possible that Atreus will be imprisoned by Thor for the death of Baldur just like in the myth – after all, Thor shows up in Atreus’ vision of the end of Fimbulwinter in the secret ending of God of War 2018. Perhaps like his father Atreus will be able to escape his fate and rewrite his destiny, meeting his wife and having his children in the meantime.
It’s possible, however, that the storytellers will be reluctant to bring time travel back into the fold. God of War 2’s treatment of time travel left some big questions – if Kratos was in control of the threads of fate, why didn’t he go back to the start of the first game’s story and stop Ares from tricking him into killing his family?
There are some good reasons, however, that time travel might fit particularly well into a Norse-themed God of War game. There are two main versions of Ragnarok – one where it is the final end of the world, and one where some of the younger gods like Magni and Modi survive, the world is reborn, and the cycle begins anew. In this sense Norse mythology has a uniquely cyclical view of time. Gods like Odin are completely aware of their fates from the get-go, and it’s never made entirely clear if Ragnarok is an event which is supposed to have already happened or has yet to come to pass.
Atreus appears to be a child during the final events of Ragnarok. The Jotunheim mural in God of War 2018 has a final panel which shows Atreus, still a young boy, cradling an adult man who appears to be Kratos, albeit without his trademark red tattoos.
Perhaps time travel will have some role to play towards the end of the God of War Ragnarok sequel. In God of War 2018 Mimir refers to events surrounding Fenrir as ancient legends. It’s possible that if Ragnarok takes place in the next God of War and Atreus survives that he’ll be present for the new start of the cycle, and will then find himself back in time where he will fulfill some of Loki’s other roles in the myths.
Santa Monica Studios approach to time in its version of Ragnarok could be one of the most interesting aspects of the next God of War regardless of which path the studio goes down. For now, however, God of War fans will have to continue to wait and speculate as the game’s development progresses.
The God of War sequel is in development.
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