Instead of his journey ending there, Kratos finds himself in the Underworld. Ares, who had been watching the whole time, ambushes and kills his former servant, taking the Box for himself. He tracks it down, but the victory is short-lived. Soon after, Kratos learns of Pandora's Box, a mystical artifact that possesses the power to kill a god. A chance eventually presents itself when none other than Athena makes him an offer: Kill Ares, and all will be forgiven. In the decade that followed, Kratos committed himself to serving the rest of the gods in the hopes it would free him from the nightmarish memories of what he'd done. That's what gives him his white appearance, as well as the nickname that followed him ever-after: Ghost of Sparta. A surviving village oracle cursed Kratos, magically coating his skin in the ashes of his dead wife and child. Nothing could change what he'd done, however. But the plan backfired, and Kratos renounced Ares instead. Ares had hoped for that turn of events, believing the act would free Kratos and make him the perfect warrior. Gripped by bloodlust, Kratos razed everything, killing his own family in the process. Unbeknownst to Kratos, Ares had brought the Spartan's wife and child to the village. That path led him one day to a village occupied by worshipers of Athena, the goddess of reason. Renewed, the Spartan used his gift from a god to defeat the barbarian king, and then went on to fulfill his part of the bargain. Ares agreed, and gave to Kratos the Blades of Chaos: Twin curved short swords attached to long chains that wrapped themselves around the Spartan captain's wrists - a sign of his bondage to Ares. Kratos pledged to live his life in service to Ares, in exchange for the power to defeat his enemies and a guarantee of safety for his troops. Nearing death, Kratos called on Ares, the Greek god of war, to come to his aid. until he was one day felled by a barbarian king. Long ago, before the events of the original game, Kratos was a captain in the Spartan army who led his people to victory after victory.

The two PlayStation Portable spinoffs and God of War: Ascension have little bearing on the events of the new game.) God of War (2005) (Note: We're just recapping the original trilogy here. For anyone who hasn't made their way through the original trilogy, again or for the first time, here's a refresher. Who has time to catch up, though? Nothing is more stressful than an entertainment backlog.

If nothing else, the emotional weight of the story's central journey lands with a lot more impact when you're familiar with the events that led Kratos to this point. While 2018's God of War doesn't tie directly back to the original trilogy, there are good reasons to play catch-up. The game of course creates a whole new set of problems, but he had a nice run for a while there. The new God of War picks up many years after a trilogy that kicked off in 2005.

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