It’s a pretty common trope in all kinds of media to have a main character or some beloved side character die in a sequel. With God of War Ragnarok, there may have been some speculation that Kratos would eventually meet an untimely end, especially since Atreus is finally playable for the first time. However, Sony Santa Monica quickly put those theories and speculation to rest in an interview with the Washington Post.
Game director Eric Williams stated that the team had never considered killing Kratos off in the story for many reasons, with the main one being that that wasn’t the story they wanted to tell.
“The story that we wanted to tell was this idea of this parent-child unit coming together and then becoming strong enough that they know each other, and they know that they made each other better, and that if you were to break them apart, you’d still feel like they’d be okay. And death, that’s a different thing. That creates a different set of emotions, there’s a lot of grief and regret. Whereas, just watching your child go to college, that’s natural progression that doesn’t have such heavy weight at the end of it.”
Washington Post
It certainly makes sense, as Kratos and Atreus’s relationship are the very heart and soul of God of War. These games are about familial ties, and there are certainly key aspects of the game that just wouldn’t quite work if a main character was killed off.
God of War Ragnarok is now available on PS5.
