God of War Magic System Explanation Page

Introduction

The following explains the magic of the setting, its nature, potency, and different manifestations and abilities.

Nature of Magic

Magic, Life-force, and the Soul​

There's always been a tie between magic, the soul, and life force, which can be seen in multiple instances. Vanquishing enemies with runic magic allows one to harness their life force, the term "Soulsteal" is about taking the life force from one's opponents, and an alchemist experimented with runic magic to increase their lifespan. When Andvari, a dwarf, loses his body to a Soul Eater, Brok theorizes that a sliver of magic is still within his ring and indeed, the ring proves to be sentient and houses a remnant of his soul.

Even in the Greek World, godly power was the same as life energy, one's power and mind are empowered by absorbing life force from fallen foes, and Hades' magic considers draining one's soul and one's life force as synonymous. The god in question absorbs souls to become stronger, so one can see that magic, life force, and the soul are one. This would mean that the soul is but a construct of magic/life energy.

The Nature of Souls​

Souls are composed of their form, that is the metaphysical nature of a being, their luck, their mind, and their direction, which guides their path to their respective afterlife as per Mimir's words. The Light of Alfheim is a power that existed before the creation of the Nine Realms (Even before Odin) and has gathered souls towards it since the beginning of creation. As such, we have confirmation that souls exist even in the absence of space and time and are thus independent as far as their nature goes.

We also know that the souls of gods have their nature determined by the godhead, something that can span all of space and time and covers abstractions like war itself. Said godhood is also referred to as a seat of solemn metaphysical responsibility. This is why Kratos did not register as a god to the Hyperion gates until he absorbed Hades' soul. So the Form, the abstract nature of a being, is what determines a deity's embodiment of an aspect of reality, regardless of how much raw power they wield. Not only that, altering a soul or imbuing it into someone else changes one's form and nature as well, as seen in the case of Lost Souls and Garm, with the latter's form and nature changing upon being imbued with Fenrir's soul.

But souls being reality-independent concepts isn't all that's established. That goes for magic itself, something we've established is a manifestation of the soul and life itself.

Magic as a Constant​

Runic Magic flows through the entirety of the Nine Realms and is drawn from their very makeup. Supported by Freya, confirming that each geographical region has magic innate to it entirely, from which beings draw their magical abilities, meaning that this magic is not only innate to the Realms, but the entirety of Scandinavia as a geographical region on the supernatural Earth of the God of War setting.

While she speculates that the death of the Greek World is the reason for Kratos being unable to access his magic, what we're shown would say otherwise. After all, it is made clear that Kratos lost all his power when he plunged the Blade of Olympus into himself and released Hope itself to all of Humanity. Even aside from this, it's clear that magic doesn't depend on reality for its continued existence.

For one thing, Surtr himself reminds us that the origin of primordial magic doesn't matter, and indeed, this same magic takes the place of Sinmara's heart to allow Surtr to become Ragnarok. This magic originates from Greece and persists after the latter's destruction within the Blades of Chaos. As established above, life and the soul are aspects of magic and vice versa, yet Kratos is still alive and well and can use his innate Rage in the form of fire magic.

In the case of Runic Magic, it is older than the entirety of the Nine Realms and existed in the Ginnungagap as a primordial essence from which Ymir and everything else spawned. This is further confirmation of what we already know, that despite the Nine Realms ultimately being encompassed by the World Tree and only part of a cycle of creation and destruction, this magic is independent of and greater than them, being beyond anything man can understand.

Whereas Greek magic originates from even before the birth of Cronos, and thus time, being used by the Primordials, in their war and is, in turn, responsible for their very existence as much as anyone else's (as magic/the soul/life force is one and even Chaos herself, the conceptual source of all that exists in the Greek World, is the Primordial of Life).

Magic is an abstraction that permeates and is independent of its reality, responsible even for other universal independent concepts (i.e. the Primordials) and souls are constructs of magic, being capable of existing absent of space and time. Making magic as a whole and souls Independent Universal Concepts and any manipulation of either magic or the soul is Conceptual Manipulation (Type 1).

Potency of Magic

This section deals with the sheer potency of magic and its overall dimensional level.

As already established, Runic Magic flows through the entirety of the Nine Realms and is drawn from their very makeup. Supported by Freya, confirming that each geographical region has magic innate to it entirely, from which beings draw their magical abilities, meaning that this magic is not only innate to the Realms, but the entirety of Scandinavia as a geographical region on the supernatural Earth of the God of War setting.

The above is important because as established already, each geographical region on the Earth is a self-contained macrocosm, holding entire realities within it. As such, this would be the magic of the whole of the Nordic World, Yggdrasil and all. This includes even the energy of Tartarus that he uses to command his Hadean powers, the arcane power of the Underworld itself, an infinite space-time continuum. So, this magic encompasses all of a mythological macrocosm and its beings.

As said above, it is older than the entirety of the Nine Realms and existed in the Ginnungagap as a primordial essence from which Ymir and everything else spawned. This is further confirmation of what we already know, that despite the Nine Realms ultimately being encompassed by the World Tree and only part of a cycle of creation and destruction, this magic is independent of and greater than them, being beyond anything man can understand.

Based on the above, the potency of magic as a whole would be on the level of the geographical regions to which they are bound, of which Yggdrasil is accepted as an infinite-sized 5-dimensional cosmic structure and the Greek World is a hyper-timeline of equivalent scale. This would apply generally across all pantheons, as will be detailed below.

Levels of Magical Powers

This section details the various levels of magic and resistance that are possessed by specific characters in the setting.

Mind, Soul, Luck and Personal Concepts

Souls are composed of their form, that is the metaphysical nature of a being, their luck, their mind, and their direction, which guides their path to their respective afterlife as per Mimir's words. Not only that but they are constructs of pure magic.

Below are the levels to which magics affect the soul and its aspects, as well as the resistance to them. Starting with the Greek World;

• Various creatures and monsters can affect the mind with their abilities, chief among them the Sirens. These monsters can drive one mad with their voices, and physically and emotionally manipulate their victims. Kratos repeatedly resisted the Siren's songs and shrug off their voices with no issues.

• The illusions of the Furies target the mind, body and soul, warp the victim's senses and even distort the area around them. At first, Kratos, who resists the Sirens, was affected but after he adapted he resisted this with proper focus on his mind or with the Eyes of Truth.

• Later on, Kratos has to stop Persephone from trying to destroy the World Pillar and the Greek World. Persephone tries to persuade him into letting the gods die and attempts to send his mind to another realm, which Kratos, after initially being affected, adapts to resist it and avoid having his body crushed by Atlas.

• Years after that, during his journey to Pandora's Box, he is mentally attacked by Ares, the God of War, who possesses incredibly powerful mind-manipulating and telepathic powers. They are so powerful that they caused Kratos' ribcage to ache and skin to split and bleed despite being mental in nature. In the climactic battle against Ares however, the latter has to rely on physically recreating the entire nightmare as a pocket dimension to mess with Kratos' mind. Even then Kratos retains his faculties without losing hope and goes on to defeat Ares.

• By the time of his siege on Olympus, Kratos has regained the godly powers he wielded as the God of War but still has the soul of a demigod. Eventually, he battles the Lord of the Underworld and the ultimate ruler of souls, Hades. Said god can tear out peoples' souls and absorb them into himself, to further enhance his physical and magical capabilities with their powers, his magic allows him and his champions to strip their targets of their souls, any souls he absorbs make him stronger, weapons imbued with his power can crush, control, and cleave souls, as well as strip them out of their bodies. He keeps all the souls of the dead bound to the underworld as shown by all the souls escaping and roaming around freely upon his death Despite this, he repeatedly resisted Hades's attempts to rip his soul out with the latter's claws after initially being affected.

• The Sisters of Fate could destroy Kratos's soul as of the moments before he became a god. Lahkesis's staff has the power to destroy souls. After Kratos had obtained the Spear of Destiny, the Sisters of Fate stated that if they weren't in charge, Kratos would have made good on his threat to kill Zeus with it.

• Finally, after Kratos is initially killed and has his mind dissipated by Fear itself he eventually finds the strength to lay his inner demons to rest. After Kratos unlocked Hope, he became unaffected by the energies and the effects of Fear Zeus, who is the very incarnation of Fear, an Evil that predates reality and supersedes all beings in the Greek World, including even Primordials.

Moving on to the Norse saga, the focus on mind and soul is maintained, though not in the sense of resistance;

• The use of Seidr continuously can corrupt one's body and soul, stated multiple times in a row, which is in turn composed of one's concept (Form), mind, luck and their path (Direction) to the afterlife. It also sacrifices parts of their souls until they have almost nothing left). Gods like Freya and Odin can use it without issue.

• The Light of Alfheim is a Primordial Force that has existed before Odin and the Realms, keeping the Realms separate with its light and also transcending them altogether. All gods fear it, with Freya stating she wouldn't go near it in a million winters and a disguised Odin being shocked that Kratos could enter without being incinerated. Kratos was able to easily withstand a long period inside the Light of Alfheim without being driven insane or being completely incinerated and being made one with the Light.

All in all, each point above is a layer of magical effect over one's mind, soul, and personal concepts, and the subsequent characters that resist it at each level. Do note that the Norse and Greek sections are independent of each other and have their own starting points as far as the layers go.

Magic as a Universal Energy

God of War is a game series based on mythology and has a lot of magical elements to it. This section will explain how there is a universally applicable usage of magical energies to perform all its feat.

All magical abilities draw from the same core source of power, be they standard elemental abilities or esoteric ones.

• Magic is synonymous with life force/life energy, with the magic of a creature's body diminishing upon their death. It is also referred to as the essence of a being. All of Kratos's abilities draw from a general magical reservoir, which also corresponds to his lifeforce, as filling it heals him.
• Magic itself can be used as an energy to create structures and a good example of this is the Furies. The Sisters create illusions that dissipate outwards from their bodies when they are knocked down hard or killed. The illusion is either sustained by them or Daemon, a construct composed of the same magic as the Furie use. That same Daemon can shoot energy blasts with the same magic used for illusions. The illusions are physical as they warp reality itself.

Removing magic from a being directly weakens them greatly and diminishes their physical power.

• Magic being granted translates directly to restored stamina and reduces fatigue. This is showcased again when the influx of magic into Kratos's body upon acquiring Cronos' Rage restores their stamina. This applies to both mortal and godly users of magic, as godhood is one's magic and draining it away weakens a person physically as well.

All main physical attributes are directly proportional to the magic one possesses.

• A greater amount of magic within a being also leads to a proportional increase in physical attributes like strength and speed. Shown especially well by Kratos in his use of the Blades of Chaos. Any creatures that he kills with the Blades have their life force absorbed and used to empower Kratos. The empowerment from the Blades also increases speed proportionally.
• Magic itself is the source of physical power, not any property that is innate to the body. Kratos himself confirms that his strength does not come from his body, and Mimir confirms that physique and strength are independent for gods.

Magic itself, regardless of mythical origin scales to the same level and potency.

• The above applies for all pantheons, including the Nordic lands, seeing as runes connect all within the Norse realms. Also showcased by the fact that Atreus's bow is effective solely because it uses magic.
• As already established, Runic Magic flows through the entirety of the Nine Realms and is drawn from their very makeup. It is older than the entirety of the Nine Realms and existed in the Ginnungagap as a primordial essence from which Ymir and everything else spawned.
• On top of all of this, when Kratos clarifies the origin of the primordial fire in his Blades, Surtr himself reminds us that the origin of primordial magic doesn't matter, and indeed, this same magic takes the place of Sinmara's heart to allow Surtr to become Ragnarok.

Types of Magic

General Abilities

These are the innate abilities available to all users of magic in the setting.

• Soul Manipulation, Mind Manipulation, Memory Manipulation, Probability Manipulation, Conceptual Manipulation (Type 1) (All magic is an abstraction that predates and encompasses reality and a manifestation of the soul. Souls are composed of their form, that is the metaphysical nature of a being, their luck, their mind, and their direction, which guides their path to their respective afterlife as per Mimir's words)
• Life Manipulation (Magic is ultimately a manifestation of, and synonymous with life energy)
• Non-Physical Interaction (All wielders of magic can interact with either souls or intangible entities composed of it, such as Wisps, Wights, and Phantoms, as well as The Primordials)
• Chaos Manipulation (Magic is older than the entirety of the Nine Realms and existed in the Ginnungagap as a primordial essence from which Ymir, a being of pure chaos and everything else spawned, said gap described as where chaos and order meet. Greek magic originates from Chaos herself, the conceptual source of all that exists in the Greek World, the Primordial of Life as well as the primordial chaos)
• Statistics Amplification (Magic is the source of all strength and power in the setting, independent of the shape and size of one's body)
• Energy Manipulation and Projection (Can be molded into various forms of energy or constructs)

Grecian Magic

This is the magic of the Grecian World that all of the Gods, Titans and other beings utilize for their own ends. It empowers the physical abilities of all of the beings that use it and can be used to amplify and give even mundane weapons supernatural abilities, such as duplication. All variations of said magics draw from the same general reservoir of a being's energy and manifest differently depending on what ability is being wielded at the time, tying into their stamina and strength.

Greek Godhood

This is the innate divinity wielded by Grecian deities and it avails them the following powers and abilities.

• Telekinesis: Gods are capable of using their magic for powerful telekinetic feats, as shown by Helios saving Kratos from falling to his death. Ares completely mangling the entire Barbarian army and snapping them like toothpicks, Athena lifting Kratos from the ocean and lifting Pandora safely above the Labyrinth, etc.
• Acausality (Types 1 and 4): Gods are unaffected by changes in the past, as seen when they still remembered their victory at the Great War even after Kratos changed the outcome of the war by bringing the Titans to the present, including the destruction of Atlantis. The Titans, older generation deities, consider time itself to be completely meaningless to them. The laws of time and space work differently for the gods.
• Enhanced Senses, Extrasensory Perception and Illusion Negation: Gods can sense beings thousands of miles away and even hear other people's prayers. Gods like Ares can easily see Kratos perfectly to target him with a fireball, even when the Spartan himself could not see the path in front of him or the temple due to the battle having darkened all of Athens. Also immediately detected Kratos finding Pandora's Box thousands of miles away in the Desert of Lost Souls, and swiftly proceeded to kill him on the spot.
• Self-Sustenance (All Types): Gods have no need to eat, drink or sleep. Gods also have no issue existing in the vacuum of space, as shown by Kratos, Ares and the Primordials.
• Empowerment: All Greek Gods, Primordials, and Titans grow stronger throughout the millennia through prayers from their followers.
• Precognition, Cosmic Awareness, and Clairvoyance: Gods can see and sense all of their domain across space and time. They can even see visions that concern them occurring in the present.
• Mind Manipulation, Telepathy, Biological Manipulation, Pain Manipulation and Dream Manipulation: Gods possesses incredibly powerful mind-manipulating and telepathic powers allowing them to locate anyone who thinks or dreams of them. They are so powerful that they can cause physical harm via psychic attacks in one's dreams.
• Size Manipulation, Invisibility and Shapeshifting: All Greek Gods can change size or become invisible at will or take the shape of intangible matter or other beings, or simply turn into pure energy. During the Great War, all Olympians, including Hermes, changed their size to roughly the knee-length of the average Titan Gods can even shapeshift into battle-ready attires, as in the case of Persephone.
• Disease Manipulation: All the Gods can inflict disease on ordinary people as nothing more than a petty wager. Hades himself can inflict diseases upon his victims with his necrotic Arms
• Astral Projection: All gods can project themselves into various natural phenomena, such as statues and raw energy.
• Aura: All gods can generate an aura around them either because of their magics emanating or due to sheer raw power
• Sound Manipulation: The Gods have incredibly powerful voices that can collectively shake the entirety of the mortal universe.
• Power Bestowal: Gods can bestow their powers upon others. This is also seen when they pass on bits of their magic to Kratos when the latter is a demigod. The Titans can also do the same.
• Teleportation and BFR: Gods can teleport to other locations at will. Athena teleported away somewhere else after turning into mist and Hades can teleport back and forth between the Mortal World and the Underworld. They can also send targets to other locations away from them or vice versa, and teleport them from a remote location.
• Curse Manipulation: Gods can curse others immediately or after activating a certain condition, like telling a secret. Said curses can endure and even revive the target from death, as well as transform others into monsters. They even work on other gods.

Resistances

• Radiation Manipulation: Gods have little to no regard for the harmful radiation of the stars and the Sun’s core, as is the case with Hyperion, the Primordials as well as Cronos. Are shown to be able to survive a direct blast from a nuclear bomb with no harm. Can survive in the vacuum of space, as shown by Ares and Kratos.
• Magic and Greek Godhood: Gods are immune to the innate properties of their magics. This applies across all pantheons and generations.
• Disease Manipulation: All the gods are unfazed by the disease that plagued the entire world when Hermes died.
• The Lightning of Zeus, Ice of Poseidon, Fires of Ares, and Hadean Energy: The powers and relics wielded by the Redeemed Warriors reflect the powers of the gods that gift them. All Redeemed Warriors have a basic elemental resistance to the powers of the gods, that can be amplified via specific items and relics. These are naturally lesser reflections of the powers wielded by the aforementioned gods.

Lightning of Zeus

This is the power wielded by Zeus, the God of the Sky and King of Olympus, that he grants to worthy champions.

• Electricity Manipulation (Can wield lightning gifted to them by Zeus and channel it with their weapons)
• Accelerated Development (Wielders can regenerate magic and increase godly powers through battle success)
• Power Nullification (Can temporarily nullify the magical abilities of their enemies. Zeus's lightning can paralyze its targets and strip them of their magic and powers.)
• Paralysis Inducement (Can channel bursts of lightning to electrocute enemies and temporarily paralyze them)
• Forcefield Creation and Attack Reflection (Via Aegis, they can block and reflect enemy attacks)

Ice of Poseidon

This is the mystical icy magic of Poseidon, God of the Seas, that is granted to his champions.

• Ice Manipulation (Via Obliteration, which emits a massive freezing attack with a wider area of effect)
• Madness Manipulation (Type 1 and 2; via Siren’s Chant, which can summon a Siren Song against one's enemies)
• Intangibility (Via Breath of Amphitrite, which allows people to turn into a Mist of Frost)
• Statistics Amplification and Forcefield Creation (Via Salvation of Atlantis, which gives wielder's increased defenses, as well as creating a magical barrier that stuns enemies coming into contact with it)
• Energy Manipulation and Status Effect Inducement (Via Tide of Redemption, which creates a massive energy field that stuns nearby enemies)

Fires of Ares

The raging power of Ares, God of War, granted to those he deems worthy.

• Life Manipulation and Healing (Wielders gain more life with every enemy encounter)
• Fire Manipulation (Via Wall of Flame, wielders can create a flame barrier, and their physical attacks are improved for a short time)
• Explosion Manipulation (Via Incineration, wielders can unleash an explosion on their enemies)
• Accelerated Development (Can gain magic and physical damage over time, and each attack improves in skill and power. Their strength and combat capabilities also grow with every battle fought)
• Forcefield Creation (Via Eye of the Wolf, which protects against incoming attacks by creating a protective barrier)
• Statistics Amplification (Via Ares Fury, which greatly increases physical power and defenses)

Hadean Energy

This is the arcane power of the Underworld itself, wielded by Hades and his champions and capable of a variety of effects, as shown below;

• Mind Manipulation, Soul Manipulation, Memory Manipulation, Probability Manipulation, Non-Physical Interaction and Conceptual Manipulation (Type 1): Souls are composed of their form, the metaphysical nature of a being, their luck, their mind and their direction, which guides their path to their respective afterlife as per Mimir's words. Damaging souls can shatter and fragment their memories as a consequence. The Energy of Tartarus allows its wielders to summon, consume and destroy souls in their entirety.
• Summoning and Homing Attack: Hades' magic allows him and his champions to summon a torrent of souls, his powers can summon several cursed souls that home in on their targets and the souls of monsters like Cerberus, as well as other monsters such as a gorgon, siren, and a chimera, said souls possessing the powers of Petrification, Forcefield Creation, Sound Manipulation and Status Effect Inducement, Madness Manipulation Types 1 and 2, Empathic Manipulation, Body Puppetry, Death Manipulation, Poison Manipulation, and Acid Manipulation
• Curse Manipulation and Statistics Reduction: The energy of Tartarus allows those who harness it to curse their targets, curses being able to lower the target's durability.
• Teleportation: The energy of Tartarus allows those who harness it to teleport.
• Corruption (Types 1 and 2) and Deconstruction: The Souls of the Dead can be used to corrupt the environment. Hades himself can corrupt the environment with his darkness, and his Arms of Hades can dissolve objects upon contact as well, as showcased here.
• Transmutation and Mind Manipulation (His Arms of Hades can transform panicking, living men into mindless Underworld soldiers)
• Energy Manipulation and Projection: Hades' powers allow him and his champions to summon and control the negative energies of Tartarus. The energy of Tartarus also allows those who harness it to blast it in the form of projectile attacks and waves. Cerberus Soul Summons can cast attacks by spitting purple Hadean energy. With Hades' energy, Kratos is able to blast Hadean energy into enemies with Tormenting Sorrow. Hades can also breathe out lethal Tartarus Energy blasts.
• Portal Creation: The energy of Tartarus allows those who harness it to create and attack from portals.
• BFR: The Arms of Hades can be used to kill and drag people as well as other creatures into the Underworld
• Intangibility and Life Absorption: With Wraith Fang one can turn into an intangible mist and absorb the life-forces of anyone attempting to attack said mist. The Arms of Hades can easily absorb its victims' life-force and magic before brutally dragging them down to the Underworld. The Lost Souls of the Underworld one can summon using the Energy of Tartarus, can drain people of their magic reserves and strip them of their magical abilities, as well as drain their life-force
• Underground Mobility: Can allow one to dive underground to ambush enemies with Wraith's Ambush.
• Perception Manipulation: The energy of Tartarus allows those who harness it to create a bubble around them that makes them seem invisible to anyone outside of it.
• Status Effect Inducement and Curse Manipulation: Can be used to stun and curse all nearby enemies with an energy Shockwave.
• Accelerated Development: The Relic of Misery increases strength when at low health. The Relic of Haste increases speed after using Magic.
• Power Nullification: With Sacrificial Soul, a Hadean magic spell that allows the user to summon a wave of cursed souls, which can strip people off their magical powers, to lash out at their enemies. The Arms of Hades can easily absorb its victims' life-force and magic before brutally dragging them down to the Underworld. The Lost Souls of the Underworld one can summon using the Energy of Tartarus, can drain people of not only their life-force, but also drain their magic reserves and strip them of their magical abilities and their capability to use magic in the first place.

Power of the Fates

This is the green-tinted magical power wielded by the Sisters of Fate, to command time and destiny.

• Energy Manipulation and Projection: The Sisters can shoot green energy orbs and blasts.
• Summoning and Necromancy: Atropos can summon soldiers from the Underworld to do her bidding. Her sister Clotho is also able to summon various monsters like Gorgons and other creatures.
• Precognition, Clairvoyance, Time Manipulation and Time Travel (The Sisters of Fate control all of time itself, and can even control one's past, present and future. Their Threads of Fate span all of life and time and when Kratos wielded their power, he could travel across time and space on a whim with no medium needed)
• Mind Manipulation, Soul Manipulation, Memory Manipulation, Probability Manipulation, and Conceptual Manipulation (Type 1) (Souls are constructs of magic, composed of their form, the metaphysical nature of a being, their luck, their mind and their direction. Damaging souls can shatter and fragment their memories as a consequence. Lahkesis's power, when channeled through her staff, can destroy souls.)
• Lightning Manipulation (Can manipulate green lightning)
• Empathic Manipulation (Made even the ugly Pan irresistible to the Nymphs)
• Disease Manipulation (The Sisters regularly prefer to play around with diseases and inflicting them on mortals)
• Age Manipulation, Life Manipulation, Death Manipulation and Fate Manipulation (As one of the three Sisters of Fate, Atropos is responsible for spinning and weaving every single Thread of Fate, all three Sisters of Fate can decree exactly when they will die, and they take care to determine one's death period so as not to prematurely end their life or extend their lifespan too long. They are responsible for creating new life with their threads. They can even snap the threads with the intent to kill their subjects whenever they wish. The Sisters have complete control over Fate itself. They can even easily kill people just by tugging on their threads and can instantly manifest threads and alter their fates on a whim, and reverse said Fates instantly via touching the resulting sparks. Moreover, the Threads they controlled stretched to every corner of the world, and they also influence the fates of the Gods and Titans, and they are also considered to be stronger than the Gods, Titans, and everyone else in Greek Mythology, as it was her sister Lahkesis who determined the Titans lost the Great War. They control not only the fates of all humans and deities, but also all the fates of all animals and even aspects of geography like volcanoes and rivers including the Nile. Atropos even states to Kratos that she and her sisters can control his destiny, as well as control his past, present and future. Clotho is explicitly stated to be Life itself, and to defeat her would mean defeating the genesis of all, and freeing mankind from their bondage to destiny)
• Resurrection (The Sisters of Fate have the power to easily resurrect the Titan race, wanting to do so simply because of their boredom)
• Astral Projection (Via this. Atropos is able to send out her projections to other gods as well) but Clotho chooses not to and is far more serious with her work)

Great Evils and Hope

This section elaborates on the nature of the Great Evils and Hope, as well as how they permeate the Greek World.

The Chaos

In the beginning of reality itself, there was absolutely nothing but Chaos. Chaos was the void of raw disorder and the Primordials would eventually emerge from it. The Primordials would already be under the influence of the Evils, which would drive them to war.

• “In the time before the Titans, before the Gods of Olympus, a great battle was waged. The wrath of the Primordials, the very beings who forged the Earth, raged out of control for an eternity. And from this rage, this madness of war, the Furies were brought forth.”

After Uranus, the primordial who created the universe, triumphed and pretty much acted as the major leader-figure among the Primordials, he ended up eventually being cast aside by his own, son Cronos, a representation of time, bringing forth the age of the Titans, in an action that began the cycle of son killing father, and was again yet another event motivated by the actions of the evils of Fear and Hatred, something engrained within Kratos’ bloodline.

Cronos was eventually infected by the evils of Fear and Hatred. He was consumed by the possibility of one of his sons overthrowing him and casting him aside just as he had his father Uranus.

• “You know of the Mighty Titan, Cronos. So fearful was Cronos of the oracle's prediction that his own children would rise against him, he decided to imprison them all in his belly.”

The Evils, just as they had influenced the war between the Primordials and the universal events, and just as they had consumed Cronos, were leading directly into the Great War. Cronos himself being the Titan whose birth started time, confirms that the Evils are a universal force that predates reality.

• “Because of fear, Kratos! A fear felt by his father, Cronos. A fear that brought the Great War, a fear that drove Zeus to kill you, his own son! Just as Zeus was compelled to destroy his father, Cronos, you are compelled to do the same! No son should destroy his own father.”

Fear and Hope

As time passed, the evils’ spread directly influenced more and more events, and when the Titanomachy culminated and both the Gods and the Titans fought in battles fueled by rage and madness, just like their ancestors, that lasted centuries, the evils spread on an alarming rate, and by the end of the War, they had taken into physical forms, barely corporeal mists that infected and threatened to destroy the very world of both Man and God with their spread.

To stop the evils, Zeus commissioned his son, Hephaestus, to build Pandora’s Box so the evils could be locked inside and never again infect his reign:

• “It all began when Zeus triumphed over the Titans in the Great War. Zeus understood that the evils born from that battle if left free, would destroy the world of Man and Gods. To contain these evils, Zeus commissioned Hephaestus to build a vessel strong enough to hold them. Fear. Greed. Hate. He locked them all away in the box, in hopes that they would never again infect his reign."

To accomplish this task, the Smith God used the power of the Flame of Olympus, a primordial flame that existed before the Olympians and transcended the Gods themselves, and used its powerful mystical fire to encase the metal of the box within. From the heart of the Flame of Olympus, emerged a living being that was neither human nor God, neither mortal nor dead; Pandora. The Evils were so powerful that they could not be contained by the gods, who could wield magic and their domains on a level that spanned space and time.

• “The evils of the Great War could not easily be contained. I forged the box in a power greater than the Gods themselves, the Flame of Olympus. As the raw metal took shape, I realized the Flame was the safest place to protect it. The lock was set. All that was needed was a key, a way to retrieve the box. Created from the very Heart of the Flame, the key took on a life of its own. Pandora. A child. Neither living nor dead.”

Pandora, being a personification of the Flame’s powers and of what was contained inside it, was both pure and tainted by the Evils. Understanding what the Evils entail, Pandora explains them to the audience in a sort of hidden way, to make for a twist at the end of the game. The evils are the representations of the literal Fear, Hatred, and negative emotions felt by us, that live within us and can come off us, as Pandora herself reveals.

• “It’s all my fault. I failed him because of Fear. Fear is its own kind of darkness. In that darkness, I heard what the Gods said about me. They called me a monster.”
• “In their words I heard Fear. The fear of an ash-covered warrior. The fear of you. As the fear in the Gods rose, mine was replaced by Hope.”

Zeus, upon triumphing in the War, personally collected all the Evils by himself and channeled his abilities to lock them inside the Box.

• “When Zeus gathered all the evils and placed them in the box, I dreaded what would happen if it was opened again. And so, I summoned the most powerful weapon in the World and placed it inside the box."

Upon the sealing of the embodiments of the evils, they were completely halted, and only small remnants lingered in the form of the emotions felt by mankind and gods alike. Before they were sealed, however, they fully influenced reality.

Upon recounting this memory to Kratos, Athena herself realizes that she was previously wrong in her judgment. Kratos did not use the negative energy of the Evils to empower himself and defeat Ares. When Kratos opened the box, he released the Evils to the Gods, and infected the Gods, completely changing them. Zeus was fully consumed and possessed by the evil Fear, just as his father was, on an even higher scale.

• “When you opened the box, you released the evils to the Gods. Infected them. Changed them. Zeus himself fell prey to the dark evils - this is why he became so enraged and obsessed with your death. He was consumed by the evil, Fear. I thought the power I placed in the box was never released. All these years I assumed you drew from the evils inside to destroy Ares. But I was wrong…"

And finally, Athena realizes - Hope, as she had placed on the box, was also released, and it gave Kratos the power to completely overcome the evils themselves.

• the box, you gained a strength that Zeus could never destroy, a strength great enough to overcome Fear. Locked deep inside you, Kratos is Hope. It has remained buried, trapped by your guilt and the failures of your past."

Upon hearing this, Kratos realizes the meaning of what Pandora had told him.

• “Hope is what makes us strong! It is why we are here. It is what we fight with when all else is lost.”

Losing all other options and being trapped, Kratos finally got over his guilt and managed to reawaken Hope, and with it, he overcame Zeus, who had taken into a form that was the embodiment of Fear itself.

With Zeus dealt with, Athena, who had become infected by the powers of her higher existence, greedily tries to coerce Kratos into granting her Hope. The Spartan makes his own decision and attempts to end his own life by stabbing himself with the Blade of Olympus. With it, he releases Hope to the world but fails to end his own life and is brought back by his very own Hope.

And to be clear on the nature of the Evils and Hope, when the developers came to talking about Hope, they verbally confirm that Hope itself is a concept.

“	“’Hope’ was the perfect concept to pull Kratos through his journey. I mean, it was literally inside him. And even though he wasn’t aware of what he was doing, Kratos released and brought hope into the world. What a beautiful, redemptive act. What a beautiful path forward, no matter how bad things get. But hope can die, so the question becomes, can you muster the strength, when things are at their worst, to draw it from within yourself, and use it to pull yourself out of whatever is keeping you down. There’s always hope, and for Kratos to be able to find it, acknowledge, and embrace it, felt charged.”	„
	~ Lead Writer on God of War Ragnarök and co-writer on Valhalla, Richard Gaubert, How Kratos past shaped God-of War Ragnarok: Valhalla

And while there can be a doubt on whether this is just metaphorical, they confirm this to be literal.

“	“Hope is not only symbolic in the Greek saga, but also literal – Kratos absorbs it when he opens Pandora’s Box and that’s what Athena wanted to take from him. Pandora’s presence reminds him in Valhalla that there is hope for him to keep going, to become a god once again and do good.”	„
	~ Co-Director of God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla and Animating Director of God of War: Ragnarok, Bruno Velazquez, How Kratos past shaped God-of War Ragnarok: Valhalla

Summary

The Great Evils are malevolent emotional forces that predate all of time, reality, and space. They exist on an even higher level of being than The Primordials, who are themselves abstract and fundamental aspects of nature, influencing them into destroying each other and eventually growing enough to manifest in the physical plane.

Hope is a power greater than all of them, the most powerful force in the Greek World and the wider setting so far. One that Kratos still carries a small sliver of it inside of him even to the present time.

Nordic Magic

The Runic Magic of the Nordic Realms is described as a delicate system that flows through all of the Nine Realms. As was stated before, it is tied to the geographical region itself. It manifests in a variety of ways, from the use of Primordial Forces to mastering the internal magic of beings. The following are the major uses of magic in these lands.

Dwarven Magic

This is the magic of the Dwarves of Nidavellir, primarily utilized in their smithing of extremely powerful magical weapons, such as Mjolnir, or their defense. The following are their uses and abilities showcased so far;

• Soul Manipulation, Non-Physical Interaction, Mind Manipulation, Memory Manipulation, Probability Manipulation, Conceptual Manipulation (Type 1): Dwarven magic can remove the souls of Ancients to create Soul Eaters, and store their own souls in objects. They can even capture aspects of the soul from the Lake of Souls in Alfheim with no ill effects and fight of the legions of souls in there. As per Brok's own words, Dwarven Magic is about the relationship between the material and intangible and manipulating that to achieve one's desire. They not only shape the form of an object but it's fundamental nature as well. This allows them to take away the properties of objects, such as the sound of wind, or forge weapons and armor from abstruse materials such as Dragon's Fury, Screams of the Innocent and a Sacrifice.
• Dimensional Travel: Dwarves are capable of stepping into the Realm Between Realms to both travel and avoid danger, becoming invisible in the process.

Light Elf Magic

The Light of Alfheim is an energy that existed before the creation of the Nine Realms (Even before Odin) and has gathered souls towards it since time immemorial. It is a cosmic light that transcends everything in the Nine Realms and keeps the Nine Realms separate through its power alone. As such, it is likely a Primordial Force itself. The Light Elves discovered it and imbued themselves with its power, changing and coming to worship The Light. It allows the following;

• Light Manipulation: The Light Elves have shown themselves capable of wielding The Light in the form of projectiles, bombs, and homing blasts.
• Status Effect Inducement: When hit by The Light, it induces massive stun damage, and temporarily induces blindness and daze in its targets.
• Statistics Reduction: The Light of Alfheim is also capable of weakening foes.
• Statistics Amplification and Corruption (Type 1): When the Light Elves took The Light into their bodies, they grew far stronger than before, losing their ancestral features and becoming capable of levitation without wings.
• Life Manipulation: The Light of Alfheim is what gave and made brand new life in all of Alfheim.
• Healing: The Light can be used to heal oneself, as shown by the Light Elf Slayers.

Bifrost Magic

This is an energy radiated from the Light of Alfheim wielded by the various deities, chief of all Odin himself and his Aesir. It has a myriad of abilities used by Aesir, Vanir, and the like, as shown below;

• Energy Manipulation and Projection: Bifrost can be wielded in the form of energy blasts and laser beams, showcased by the Einherjar, Gna, the Valkyrie Queen and Níðhögg. Odin, one of its most proficient wielders, can channel the energy of the Bifrost to fly and move at high speeds, generate large explosions, shoot energy bolts, and create energy whips
• Healing and Additional Limbs (Up to Low-Mid): Einherjar can use Bifrost to heal themselves and their mounts. In more severe cases, one can construct Bifrost limbs should the real ones be destroyed. Odin also used Bifrost to heal Hrist and Mist.
• Explosion Manipulation: Bifrost can cover its targets and explode whenever contact is made after that.
• Dimensional Travel: Bifrost is what allows beings to travel between the Nine Realms, first utilized by Freyr to explore the World Tree and establish Realm Travel, then by the Einherjar to travel across the Nine Realms.
• Teleportation: Einherjar can utilize Bifrost to teleport around the battlefield and attack from different angles.
• Weapon Creation: The Einherjar and Valkyries manifest their chosen weapons via wielding the Bifrost and can change it at will.
• Space-Time Manipulation: Bifrost can be used to open Realm Tears, as shown by Nidhogg, who powers up her claws with it before tearing holes in reality to attack through them, and by the Valkyries, who use their mastery over Bifrost to create Realm Tears.
• Forcefield Creation, Aura and Flight: Can be used to create full body forcefields around oneself to protect from harm, as showcased by Heimdall and by Odin, who was capable of levitating by encasing himself in an aura Bifrost energy.
• Non-Physical Interaction: Bifrost can be imbued in even Wisps, Wights, and Phantoms, which are intangible due to being composed of pure magic.

Resistances

• Resistance to Void Manipulation and Existence Erasure: Both Nidhogg and the Valkyries can freely roam about the Realm Between Realms without harm due to their usage of Bifrost Magic, and Valkyries can also peacefully reside in Realm Tears because of this.

Seidr

This is magic native to Vanaheim and its witches and sorcerers. It is a powerful form of magic that's known for its corruptive influence and self-sacrificial nature. It allows its practitioners the following;

• Statistics Reduction and Power Nullification: Odin learned seidr magic from Freya and would eventually rob her of her wings and her Warrior Spirit. This was also used to place several curses upon Freya, including one that removed her ability to harm others even in self-defense, which left her gasping for air and blacking out trying to counter him.
• Necromancy: Seidr magic can be used to reanimate the dead, as seen when Freya used it to reanimate the giant stonemason Thamur, and as seen when Hvitserkr the Bold used it on himself as a Berserker.
• Poison Manipulation: Seidr users are capable of creating poison projectiles and fields that can weaken and kill targets that are hit by it, as seen with Reavers and Poison Revenants. They're also imbued by the poison itself yet seem unaffected by it being within them. Due to his mastery over Seiðr magic, Odin can shoot balls of poison and his curse is the reason the mists of Niflehim are poisonous.
• Healing: Wielders of Seidr are capable of healing themselves from harm using their magics, provided they are not interrupted.
• Curse Manipulation: Seidr can be used to curse other individuals and turn them into cursed variants of themselves, with similar properties to Seidr users. Odin used said Seidr magic to curse Freya to be unable to fight even in self-defense.
• Mind Manipulation: Freya used Seidr magic to control minds and make Asgardian Soldiers fight each other.
• Corruption (Types 1 and 2), Mind Manipulation, Soul Manipulation, Memory Manipulation, Probability Manipulation, Non-Physical Interaction and Conceptual Manipulation (Type 1): The use of Seidr continuously can corrupt one's body and soul, stated multiple times in a row. The soul is composed of one's concept (Form), mind, luck and path (Direction) to the afterlife. It also sacrifices parts of their souls until they have almost nothing left.
• Intangibility and Teleportation: Seidr allows its most powerful users, the Revenants, to travel through sheets of reality, not only letting them become intangible but also allowing them to teleport around to avoid attacks.

Naturally, the best wielders of Seidr magic would get resistance to all the abilities above as well, since they are visibly unharmed by its corrupting effects.

Vanir Magic

This refers to the ancient magics practiced by the Vanir, showcased primarily by Freya. It is an art near lost to time and extremely potent in its abilities;

• Resurrection: It is capable of being alongside exotic ingredients to bring a dead body back to life, so long as their head is intact, as showcased when Freya brought Mimir's head back from the dead.
• Healing (Up to Low-Godly) and Purification: As stated by Freya, with Vanir magic, the Valkyries were able to be restored to their corporeal forms from their soul and uncorrupted at that.
• Necromancy: It can be used to reanimate corpses and utilize their abilities, as Freya shows us while using Thamur's body to attack Kratos and Baldur.
• Time Manipulation and Time Stop: The Vanir in general liked to play around with time itself. Unfortunately, while it stopped their realm, it didn't stop the Wolf Giants Skoll and Hati from approaching ever closer to the Sun and Moon to eat them here.
• Plant Manipulation: Users of this are capable of wielding vines and plants to attack and restrain their opponents as Freya does with Baldur and Kratos, as seen here. Freyr also used this magic to grow crops, but the Asgardians mucked it up.
• Electricity Manipulation: It can be used to summon yellow lightning in the form of blasts or physical constructs like butterflies.
• Stealth Mastery: It can hide individuals from the prying eyes of the Aesir and Odin's ravens.