Kratos Part 3: A Fan Response to David Jaffe
To David Jaffe, creator of God of War: I'm not even remotely sorry your rage fantasy attempt at a self insert grew beyond you. Your annoyance at where Kratos is as a character is incredibly amusing, because you do not seem to grasp the fact that you sowed the seeds for this kinder, less furious Kratos.
You established that Kratos's motives early on were revenge for the unintentional murders of his wife, Lyssandra, and their six year old daughter, Calliope. His motive out the gate was about someone else, despite attempts to make him seem a solely evil and self motivated man.
I find it incredibly interesting that you had zero issues before with Kratos showing love to his little girl in Chains of Olympus. Or to him taking a weak moment with Ascension to give an illusion of Calliope a goodnight kiss. Or even to him questioning himself and his actions with, "What have I done?", and "What have I become?" in the other PSP title, Ghost of Sparta when talking about killing his mother and the death of Deimos.
The plot points were laid for Kratos to develop into a kinder, calmer, and more considerate man as early as game one.
Hell, at the end of 3, he makes the ultimate gesture against the Gods, against Athena and for the people of a country he adored. He sacrificed himself to return Hope itself to the Greeks. Kratos was always thinking of Greece and it's people and what was best for them as far back as BEFORE his oath to Ares. He made the oath so he would be able to defend his people from an invading force.
Yes, Kratos was an angry son of a bitch. Selfish, cruel, arrogant, and sometimes just outright horrific as a person. But eventually you get tired of being angry, and that's what he did. He succeeded in killing all who wronged him or stood in his way. Eventually the fire fueling his hate burned away.
By 2018, we see an aged Kratos who still holds much anger and was trying his best to work on his temper. Hes once again in a position of grieving, but this time he's left alone with his eleven year old son. He's tired, he's grieving, and he's trying to handle his emotions on top of a rather volatile Atreus's. He's struggling to maintain calm because he doesn't think he should be that way, the old Kratos, towards his innocent son.
And here's a perspective: The angry teen boys who loved the series have grown up. They grew tired of the anger. Many of them are fathers themselves. They now get to see their favorite character grow up with them and develop.
Kratos isn't soft, in fact he's still as powerful as ever, and the strength it takes to undergo therapy (Valhalla in this case) is immense. Kratos is stronger than ever, he's just found it in his heart to show mercy when he can.
