| Khuutra said: Akvod, it's possible to take Kratos as immensely sympathetic and the gods as almost monstrous - Zeus in particular. He's as negative a figure as there is. Kratos is tragic and sympathetic because his Greek flaw is rage - it's not quite pride, doesn't lend itself to being brought down in the same way, but it is invested with its own tragedies. |
Well looking at it from a modern perspective, I think Kratos isn't all that sympathetic.
3:30 ish
Also I find the "wipe my memories and sins away" to be the wrong way out. You cannot undo your past, and just trying to "atone" or "relieve" yourself of sin like the Middle Eastern religions is wrong (look at the Chick tracts, and how criminals can just appeal in the end and "erase" their sins). The right way, IMHO, is to accept your past and sins, but move on.
Kratos, after the first game, constantly cannot let go and his rage and anger only leads to more and more destruction. His blaming of others for something that was his fault (and Ares's).
Athena's death words also signify that Kratos's desire to destroy the god is selfish and can lead to anarchy and disorder, while as much as Zeus is not sympathetic, Athena will sacrifice herself and be selfless to preserve that order.
Like I said, it's not completely black and white, that's all I'm saying. I really felt sad for Kratos the first time I saw him kill his family, and when he became the God of War at the end of the first game, and sad miserably on his throne for all eternity (or so I thought). But, Ares didn't completely manipulate Kratos. Kratos was happy to continue fighting a war, against his wife's wishes, until HE loses something.
And when he finally realizes that he cannot regain or undo his loss, he only continues to fight a war out of rage.
If Kratos in the end, finally lets go of his rage and accepts the past (sheds his ashes), and gives up on trying to fight a war that brings back nothing (the chains fall from his arms), then I'll think of Kratos being sympathetic in the end.
If Kratos doesn't acknowledge or realize his flaw and just blames the gods like he does in the second game though (Like when Kratos said "No" to Athena at the end of the game) then I'll just see Kratos as an unsatsifiable war machine, truly a God of War.
