charalysis - Tumblr blog

[charalysis]

Do you think Baldur would have gotten along with Freyr if he knew he had a uncle??? I feel like despite Freyr's hatred for the Aseir and feelings of betrayal for Freya's marriage, he would still immediately accept Baldur as family because he isn't heartless. Freyr doesn't view family as tools like Odin and he isn't overbearing as Freya. So Baldur would appreciate his laid back personality.

Also I believe Freyr would immediately understand Baldur's frustration with Freya. Especially given he had a falling out with his sister as well. So they'd probably bond over that. However Freyr would definitely be considered with how violent and angry Baldur is. So maybe he'll try helping him cope??? I can see Freyr just asking Baldur if he wants to go a break stuff. Like throwing rocks at bottles and then try to talk to him while doing that. Honestly he's be very healthy for Baldur if they had a chance to know each other's existence.

Anyway I think Odin forbids Baldur from going to Vanaheim and even secretly placed a spell where he physically can't step in the realm. Why?? Well Odin doesn't want to lose his best tracker. So he lies to him about Vanaheim whenever he asks about it. Tells him there's nothing interesting there. Never informs him about his family there. Makes sures Heimdall doesn't mention anything about traveling to Vanaheim around him. Odin does everything in his power to isolate Baldur from his heritage because he knows how much his son would enjoy it there. It's wild and messy like Baldur and naturally would be perfect for him. He would most likely be happier there but he'd be more difficult to control. Just like his mother.

Oh I absolutely think Baldur and Freyr would have gotten along, but I also believe that Baldur wouldn't have become who he did. I think his feelings of anger and hate would have been mitigated had he had SOMEONE fighting for his autonomy. Because Freyr would have argued for days with his sister over the spell. He'd have argued on Baldur's behalf and tried to stop Freya from placing the spell on Baldur.

Freyr is nothing if not a fighter for freedom and given his own carefree nature, he'd have quickly seen the potential harm and proverbial chains the curse would have put on Baldur.

And if the spell was done anyway, I think Freyr would have stuck by Baldur's side and aided him however he could. But that would also likely have strained his bond with Freya further, because to Freyr (based on his assumption Freya abandoned Vanaheim and him for herself) would assume, tbh rightfully in this instance, that Freya was being incredibly selfish and cruel. With Freyr's support, it's possible that either Baldur would be a bit more resistant to Odin... Or a far more dangerous threat given a clearer head and stronger focus on a goal.

As for Odin hiding Vanaheim from Baldur...

On the one hand, I could see Odin persuading Baldur to not go or that it was impossible to go.

But on the other hand, I could also see Baldur rejecting the idea of going himself as an extension of rejecting Freya as a mother.

[charalysis]

Uncertain.

On the one hand what we see of Calliope is her generally being a sweetheart who loves her dad very much and just kinda craving happiness.

But she was also six.

On the other hand, Calliope last saw her father when he was killing people in Elysium so he could regain his power so he could save not only Greece itself, but her as well. And it ripped her heart apart to see it and have him (albeit reluctantly) abandon her.

So I could see Calliope (as a child or older) still being kind hearted and loving, but I could also see her having a deep anger and resentment towards Kratos. Resentment which could easily extend to Atreus if her thought process headed towards, "oh this is the kid dad didn't decide to abandon great".

Aside from that, I do believe the two could get along famously. Their initial interactions may be rocky at minimum, but after that it'd probably be smooth sailing. They're both sweethearts craving stability and happiness in life so they'd likely bond over that a lot.

do you think Atreus and Calliope would get along

i dont mean Atreus of Sparta i mean Atreus son of Kratos

[charalysis]

I’ve been thinking about Kratos again forgive me—

Has anyone ever sat down and thought about how, post Ragnarok, and now Valhalla Kratos is very much seen as a revered and highly thought of god?

Like, the people of Midgard seemingly making a wide berth for him and Freya as they go to meet with the currently village leaders over trade and any possible supply needs they request. Though Kratos is use to the whispers that happen behind his back- he’s faced it before- it holds a different weight now. He cares deeply for the people and their safety; the safety that he’s responsible for.

He now feels that divide in a way. What he could’ve been before, a simple father raising his son after his wife’s passing to the new god of war, the savior of Ragnarok, General to some and protector of the Nine Realms. It feels like a new burden but ones he’s willing to allow bury himself under for the sake of others.

And don’t get him started on the titles. I’d think him unnerved being called ‘Lord Kratos’

‘Kratos is enough.’ He’s fine with General, it’s something he’s familiar with, he well versed in. Being given the title of Lord feels unfit in his eyes. Mimir and Freya make the comment to spend time with the people.

‘Help them grow and they will see you as a simple man.’ So here comes Kratos now helping with hunting and building and carrying trees for new lodgings and skinning furs and on the rare occasion gifting wood carved figures to the children in his quiet moments.

It cements for the people that he’s simple when Atreus returns. The villagers swear Kratos actively dropped a log in, albeit, quiet haste to greet his son in a hug and pat to his back. He’s grown taller now, a few new scars here and there and so many stories to tell.

To the people Kratos is simple. Yes he’s done amazing feats, lifting trees and massive bucks, fighting off the monsters that terrorize the unsuspecting, and leading the realms during Ragnarok. But here they see a simple father and son rejoicing in meeting once again, and they think of him all the more greater for it.

More higher, he’s a good man at heart under all that stone and tough stares.

[charalysis]

Kratos Part something or Other: Dynamics Between Faye vs Lysandra

In God of War, Kratos has been married twice. I would like to take the time here today to analyze how he functioned as a husband in each relationship, how it succeeded or not, and the difference between who he was at each stage in life in each marriage.

I think here, I'd actually like to begin with the second marriage, his marriage to Faye.

Faye

Starting off with some background, when Faye and Kratos met, it's canon that the two fought, nearly killing each other. But they stopped the fight, both being world weary. Eventually they got to know one another and fell in love. Ten years after their meeting, they built their cabin we see in game, and that's about when Kratos confessed his past and his true nature to Faye. Then twenty-two years after that (yeah zero idea how Kratos didn't realize his wife wasn't mortal after she barely aged in 32 years), they had Atreus.

Now! In the game (from the dream sequences obviously), we see Faye is playful with Kratos, teasing him and calling him Grumbles, while Kratos seems stoic and unresponsive to much of it. Though, it must be something he actually loves about his wife because otherwise he'd be annoyed by it, which he isn't. He just... Let's it be. And Faye seems to always be giving him sly little smiles, knowing he isn't as annoyed as he may try to play with his vague grunts. Faye is also the idealistic one, wanting to help all she can, when she can, and maintain a certain balance in the world. She's open and kinder and believes it's her responsibility to fix the problems she can, and encourages Kratos to do the same.

On Kratos's end, he's quiet, content to watch Faye and listen to her over speaking himself. He's softer with her, though, than others. Gentle and he actually tries to express his feelings with her. At times his own emotions can come out in him trying to dissuade Faye from her own course of action (wanting to bury her instead of cremate her and trying to tell her he dislikes the notion of cremation), but he ultimately listens and heeds her wishes because he loves her. In terms of ideals, Kratos is Faye's opposite. He's overly focused on attempts at practicality and self preservation to the point of ignoring others, and attempting to avoid what is reasonably easy for him to fix.

As a couple, they're essentially the epitome of opposites attract in terms of personality. Faye is the lighter, happier one. She's open to new ways of thinking and living, often going out of her way to try and improve conditions around her or protect others. Kratos, on the other hand, is reserved and a bit depressive. He often outright rejects new thinking because it goes against his own deeply ingrained way of thought from his Spartan upbringing. And because of his history, he's a bit reclusive and often only seeks to sustain and protect those dear to him.

The difference in their personalities is also reflected in how they raised Atreus as a couple.

Faye taught compassion and kindness and love. She taught Atreus to think outside himself and feel for others.

Kratos taught Atreus to shut himself off so he couldn't be hurt. He taught Atreus self preservation above all else because it would keep him alive.

Unfortunately, because of Kratos's attempts to control his temper and never let it get the better of him, thus being away frequently, balance was never brought to Atreus's foundations growing up until his teens.

Faye and Kratos were very in sync as a couple, but parenting seemed to be difficult between them because they clearly had wildly different styles, and because of Kratos's avoidant nature, it was never reconciled.

Faye often encouraged Kratos to be better than he was before, to push forward and look towards a brighter future. Something he struggled with especially after her death.

Lysandra

In the assumed canon, by the time Kratos is God of War he's around 38 years old after his ten years of service. This places him at at least 26-28 when he made the deal with Ares, then broke his oath to him. Spartan men were encouraged to marry at 20, but not allowed to live with their family until relieved of active military duty at 30, at which point they'd be legally required to marry.

This means it's likely Kratos married Lysandra at 20-ish, then they had Calliope around one to two years into the marriage. This is just timeline establishment.

Now, similar to their daughter, Lysandra held no fear of Kratos, unlike many. By the time she met and married him, Greece knew him well as a fierce captain and warrior. But it seemed, to Lysandra, he was a man like any other. She loved him as he was, flaws and all.

This is not to say she had any real personal reasons to fear him. He was far from abusive to her. He adored his wife and brought her beautiful gifts when he did come home.

One thing it is known about her in relation to her lack of fear of her husband was her ability to call him out. To tell him what she felt and thought of his actions. She was not afraid to tell him her concerns that at times he didn't seem to be pushing for the glory of Greece. She felt he was often pushing for personal power instead. She tried to encourage him to find less violent methods of solving problems.

According to Kratos in GoW: Valhalla, Lysandra saw in him a goodness and a better path long before he could.

Lysandra was absolutely one of the few things keeping the younger, more impulsive and brash Kratos somewhat grounded.

I think their marriage was probably a bit tense at times, but still very loving and affectionate. It's clear Lysandra was a loyal and loving wife, and Kratos did his best to show he loved her in return.

However, Kratos outright calls himself a bad husband to her and says she deserved better from him.

This shows that, perhaps in hindsight, Kratos knew his behavior and actions were negatively affecting Lysandra, whether he meant them to or not.

Kratos also says that in the way Lysandra tried to help him be better, Faye reminds him of her. They both pushed him to improve himself and be a kinder person, to be thoughtful and selfless.

[charalysis]

GoW: Baldur

Trigger Warning: Discussions of suicide, sundial ideation, and self harm.

The main antagonist of GoW 2018, Baldur is well known by fans of the newer games and is beloved by many for the complexity of his personality and story. Baldur captivated many with his erratic behavior, interesting abilities, and his complicated relationship with his mother. Today we are going to examine him as in depth as we can and break down his behavior, motivation, and his complicated emotions around his relationship with his family.

Let's start with a little backstory.

For those needing refresher, when Baldur was born his mother, Freya, went to the Norns to inquire about her son's fate. She was told Baldur would meet an unnecessary death. This terrified Freya, as she loved her little boy more than anything and couldn't bear to lose him. She seemingly spent much of Baldur's childhood looking for the right combination of spell components, words, and general rites to protect him from his fate.

Presumably, Freya and Baldur once had a good bond, a very close mother-son relationship. Freya wears to the current day a necklace Baldur made for her as a child. We can see signs of this closeness as it seems that, despite an Aesir upbringing, Baldur followed his Vanir heritage more. He doesn't wear shoes, only leg wraps that lightly wrap around his feet, leaving him essentially barefoot. What clothes he does wear don't seem to match anything we see the other Aesir wearing, even his nephews. Everyone is in either clean, neat attire, or they are lightly armoured, but still clean for the most part. Baldur's pants are simple. He wears a large piece of either cloth or soft hide around his waist, along with an ogre hide as a leather apron, held up by a belt (a gift from Odin) which holds a pouch and various simple trinkets. Not unlike Freya's "Witch of the Woods" outfit.

It's also likely that he inherited Freya's magic, but he possibly refuses to use it out of spite. However there's little evidence for this. Though there is a little evidence for him taking on Odin's magic. Baldur has the ability to absorb and manipulate other elements, not just light. We see this with Leviathan and later fire with the giant fight.

Now, despite his potential closeness to his mother, obviously something broke this bond.

The spell Freya made to, in her mind, protect Baldur. She was terrified for him and worried he was going to die. However, for Baldur, this was no protection; for him it was a curse.

Baldur was left unable to feel warmth, cold, pain... He was also unable to feel any sensation. The touch of his wife, Nanna. The taste of food, the taste of a drink, let alone the feeling of anything in his mouth to begin with...

And this means Baldur was actually left with a lot more problems than I've seen anyone discuss.

If he did drink anything, there's no way he could tell if he had to pee, likely leading to plenty of accidents, or him just... Not peeing. Because of his healing ability and inability to die, it's possible he just gave up trying to eat or drink in general. Not like he'd die from starvation or dehydration, as much as he may have tried.

That also leads into the idea that it's possible Baldur, early on with his curse, likely tried to kill himself.

Of course, realizing his mother made him incapable of dying, he likely resigned himself to his fate of simply existing as he was and serving Odin.

Now, his broken bond with Freya does not mean Baldur ended up close with Odin. Perhaps closer than before, but Odin views his family, especially his children, as pawns in his larger game. He sees them as a means to an end and we see this outright in our first meeting with Odin in Ragnarok. Odin simply calls him "his greatest tracker". Odin just saw Baldur as a hunter to send out whenever he needed something or someone found.

Seemingly, Baldur had no one to help him cope, (aside from a wife we never actually have mentioned. Nanna's existence is implied however in a background dialogue in Odin's home/mead hall where someone mentions Forseti being paranoid someone tried poisoning Thor. For any unaware, in canonical mythology, Forseti is the son of Baldur and his wife Nanna.). However I would like to speculate a little here and say, perhaps Baldur and Thor were close.

In the fight with Thor at the beginning of Ragnarok, Thor says the line, "That ones for Baldur!", Or something like that. Given Thor's generally dismissive attitude towards his other brothers, Tyr and Heimdall, and his dislike of them, I find this line interesting. It implies that there was a level of closeness, at least enough for Thor to want to get some kind of payback against Kratos for Baldur's death.

Obviously, Thor's larger concern was the blood payment for Magni and Modi. However, I don't think that entirely negates the idea that Thor loved his baby brother and wanted some kind of payback for him.

I do also suspect Baldur and Thor being close could be in part why Thor's boys in particular were sent with Baldur. I doubt Baldur immediately went to Odin about his initial failing, as Odin is capricious and patiently unpredictable. It's possible Baldur went to Thor, the best known giant killer, to ask advice on hunting down a giant (reminder, he thinks Kratos is Laufey). Thor could have easily sent his boys to join their uncle, not going himself because of other responsibilities.

Magni and Modi seem perfectly agreeable to Baldur, only really bickering or bantering amongst each other. Baldur I think, despite his madness, was as kind as he could be to his family.

Which does lead me to speculation on his bond with his son, Forseti.

For anyone unaware, Forseti is the Norse god of Justice, Reconciliation, and Law. This tracks with his few mentions in Ragnarok, lining up to him trying to find someone allegedly trying to poison Thor and being the one to track down Heimdall's corpse and report it to Sif.

Forseti was at least conceived before Baldur's curse, which does make him one of the younger gods, closer in age to Thrúd than her brothers.

so, this means, Forseti likely grew up with a volatile, distant father. He was quite likely exposed to a lot he shouldn't have been, such as the incident where Baldur was asking people to launch arrows into him to see how many it would take to make him fall over. Baldur likely was not a good dad to Forseti, and the likely frequent violence against Baldur, simply because of Baldur's invulnerability, likely contributed to Forseti's seeming isolation and paranoia in Ragnarok.

Baldur was likely a genuinely worse father in ways compared to Thor through sheer neglect and exposing his son to horrific sights. Not to mention the emotional impact of having someone so volatile around.

(Obviously that's not me saying Thor's a good dad. I love Thor's arc and as a character, but he is a child abuser and he doesn't even try changing until Thrúd comes around.)

Segwaying right along back into the discussion of his appearance: Baldur's tattoos.

There are a few I think are work mentioning.

First, the large red runs across the top of his back say "cursed", which is how he feels about his condition of invulnerability and sensory deprivation.

Second, his arm says "never to forgive", which makes sense given his condition and his rage at Freya over it.

Third, I believe this is the large circle tattoo on his chest, apparently reading, "lights confide me with warmth so that I might feel (something)". If this translation is accurate, I think that could be an appeal to his own abilities to manipulate light. As god of light, we can see in game he can bend light around him to move faster, or at least appear to move faster. There is no telling what else he could do with his light manipulation. But this also matches his desire to feel something, anything.

And finally, the tattoo around his neck/collar bone seems to tell of his role in prophecy as the bringer of Ragnarok, which is true. His death triggered Fimblwinter.

There are other tattoos to be translated on him, but based on these, it can be assumed they are just as tied to his identity, and possibly his curse and fate, as these. And Baldur is covered in tattoos. And from what we can tell there is no clear point to tell when he started to get them done.

Further interesting points on his appearance, at least for me, is the almost haphazard placement of beads and braids in his beard and hair. It seems as though that either A, in his broken mental state, Baldur is easily irritated by the beads and braids, so he just half asses it. Or B, he tends to leave the beads in, allowing some to fall out or be messed up.

Baldur's outward presentation of himself seems to follow his mental state. Messy, bold... He's not afraid to make a statement or point that's for sure

And despite Odin's fondness of Baldur, at least in what Baldur can do for him, I'm certain Odin resents Baldur's outward presentation. Baldur must serve as a reminder of Freya, not only in his face to an extent, but also in how he dresses. His clothes and his arms being riddled with tattoos must remind Odin a lot of Freya, thus ensuring Baldur also wouldn't be close to his father. Same as his brothers before him.

There is also the Kratos parallel to acknowledge.

Baldur, like a young Kratos, is vengeful and angry. He doesn't care who gets in his way, they'll become a target too. He's brutal, cocky, outright arrogant. He's particularly gungho about killing a parent who wronged and betrayed him. (I would argue though that Baldur is way more justified than Kratos ever was in his rampage against Zeus. Not that Zeus didn't deserve it, but his motivation against Zeus was, "He killed me and stole my powers wah." At least at first.)

Baldur also does as Kratos did, and he perpetuates a cycle of hate and destruction. Kratos knew Baldur likely wouldn't stop at Freya, just as he didn't stop at Ares. Baldur was exceptionally keen to fight and kill, especially after he regained sensation. He wouldn't have stopped at Freya. He damn well likely would have gone after Odin next for lying to him and not helping him, and anyone else getting in his way of such a goal. This, seconds before his death, Kratos tells him the same thing Zeus told him. "The cycle ends here."

In conclusion, Baldur is an extremely complex character whose life was admittedly ruined really before it began. He was young for a deity, at a mere 130 years old, when he died. Freya, despite her love and intentions, ignored his wishes and refused to respect her adult son's boundaries. Odin's only real use for his youngest son was just that. What he could use Baldur for. He didn't really love him, he didn't care about him, he lied to his face... And we don't know how truly isolated he was.

[charalysis]

GoW:Magni pt.2

So!!! I was recently informed that Magni is the only child that is not Sif's.

He is, in fact, an affair baby to put it nicely. The son of Thor and and giantess, Járnsaxa.

As confirmed by Sindri in the 2018 game "Sindri called the situation sordid story, sordid meaning "involving ignoble actions and motives; arousing moral distaste and contempt." This is a direct reference to Thor cheating on his wife Sif with Járnsaxa."

Magni was Thor's first child and thus defacto heir to Mjolnir, despite Odin's possible dislike.

If we assume the GoW lore has some accuracy matching the real myths, Odin despised Magni for being mostly giant. Magni was his first grandchild, and Magni was probably a disappointment to him out the gate, thus immediately straining his bonds with Thor.

Thor clearly favored Magni between his sons, but that doesn't mean their bond wasn't strained, especially with how Thor used to abuse him and Modi. But Magni's not only Thor's first child, but Magni was presumably stronger, and possibly smarter than Modi. Magni could have likely had a lot of his giant heritage close at hand, particularly magically. I don't know if he had Jötunar visions, however it's possible he may have to an extent, thus his cockiness in his fight with Kratos.

His fate to live through Ragnarok was seemingly assured to him, not just through prophecy, but perhaps by his own magic. He didn't realize he was up against a man who's entire thing is breaking fate...

But I do wonder what his status as an affair child and 3/4 Jötun meant for Magni in Asgard.

Did all Aesir and Asgard know? Was it a family secret? Did Sif try to pass him off as hers for the sake of Odin's image, or did she simply put aside her hurt and anger at being cheated on for the sake of a possibly abandoned/motherless newborn Magni?

Did Modi know? Does Thrúd know?

Modi's status as useless came from his cowardice and low intelligence, from his incompetence. Could Magni's status of useless have actually come from his heritage and the, essentially, racism he likely faced for being mostly giant?

Magni seemed more largely accepted between him and Modi amongst Aesir, and I still firmly believe it's because of Sif. Either people simply associate her and him because of their hair, or she put in great effort, even at her worst, to try and make sure everyone who saw her best qualities, saw those traits in Magni. Or at least orchestrated a positive association between him and herself to others. Perhaps many Asgardians don't even know Magni isn't her biological son.

Idk these are rambly thoughts at 3:30 am

[charalysis]

GoW: Modi

I am certain by now a handful have seen my replies to that post about Modi from another poster, but I would like to take the time to put together a comprehensive post about my opinions on Modi, my personal analysis, and general thoughts. Without too many "what ifs" about his potential as a person or character, and minimal speculation where possible.

So in this post we will be looking at Modi's presentation of himself in the 2018 game, what others say of him in Ragnarok, and his relationships with family as are observable in game. I will be injecting my personal views on the character, obviously, similar to the Magni post.

When we are introduced to Modi alongside his older brother Magni. Physically, Modi is the smaller of the two, having inherited less of the physical giant qualities than Magni. However, between them, Modi is basically a copy of Thor. His hair, eyes, and build come right from Thor, for better or worse. Usually worse, it seems.

Modi is very much the stereotype of an ignored middle child, with the high achievement older brother, and baby princess sister. Modi is mentioned last repeatedly by Thor, and I do fully believe that it has something to do with how he looks, and not necessarily his behavior.

It's repeatedly mentioned that Magni was the favored son, getting all the credit for rescuing Thor from rubble, when it was both him and Modi. Magni was the heir to Mjolnir for the longest time, being stronger, smarter, and generally "Better" than Modi. Part of this is because Magni is "blonder", according to Mimir. I mentioned in my Magni post that this favoritism could come from association to Sif, who was likely seen as a fine addition to the family, and her being blonde made others associate the blonde Magni with her.

Modi looking like Thor and bearing what seems to be the brunt of the abuse from Thor could be tied together. Modi even tries to emulate his father's clothing and tattoos. Even the mace he has, which is not a typical Norse weapon, if it was at all, mimics the appearance of Mjolnir.

Thor has intense feelings of self hate, referring to himself often as a destroyer, and he even says all he's good for is "pissing mead and killing".

Modi possibly reminds Thor of himself.

The disdain he feels towards Modi is likely not really about Modi himself, and more about Thor. Because it does seem he loved Modi, even if he couldn't express it due to his own hang ups.

It's clear Modi admires his father, dressing similar to him, styling his hair and beard similar to his, trying to emulate his hammer as best he can... And it seems up to the end, he was trying to make Thor see him and appreciate him and his efforts.

We also need to look at Modi's upbringing.

Thor and Sif were absent in the boys' childhoods from what we understand. They were drunk and abusive (Sif and Thor do recall kinder memories with the boys when they were young, but generally they seemed to be absent). This likely left Magni, a child himself, to fend for himself and tend to Modi. Modi likely spent a good chunk of his childhood with Magni.

He does clearly love his brother, panicking and being distraught when Magni is killed, implying they're somewhat close, at least for Modi.

Being raised by another child wouldn't have given Modi a good foundation for emotional regulation, which could very well explain his poor emotional control post Magni's death (along with fear around Thor's reaction of course).

However, being basically raised by Magni likely meant he was also abused by him, as Magni would likely try to imitate what Thor did, for better or worse. On top of the abuse he suffered growing up, Odin ensured the environment he grew up in wasn't a free one. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if Modi, and by extension Magni of course, were subjected to very strict rules by Thor because of Odin. Odin did not like his grandsons, calling them useless in the first interaction we have with him in the game.

It's quite likely Modi had severe control issues.

Living in the shadow of your older brother, having to do what he and your parents demand, being beaten repeatedly... It's not surprising to me that Modi seems aimless and a little lost after Magni dies. And it would explain his decision to attempt to kidnap Atreus and force him to be his new brother.

Modi wanted someone he could control for once, someone small and vulnerable like he was as a child. Because you know Thrúd was off limits in that regard.

Thor would have killed Modi had Modi done anything beyond brotherly teasing and messing about. (For the record, I think Modi treated Thrúd well, given the fact that it seems she misses him. I think Modi saw his tiny sister and wanted to be for her the brother he didn't have growing up. Modi's intentions, perceived or no, with Atreus as "his new brother" are formed in terror and heightened emotion.)

Fear seems to actually be a major component in Modi's character.

Let's examine his weapons and fighting style first.

Modi sports the mace and shield. The mace rarely is used in actual attacks, aside from lighting. He primarily bangs on the shield with it to summon his lighting and presumably to taunt. Where Magni charges in, Modi seems to try and keep his distance and remain defensive. Lighting lands sporadically around him, adding yet another shield of sorts to hide behind. He does not like facing things head on like his brother. I'd even argue that in the fight with him and Magni, he uses Magni as a shield to get to Atreus, letting the older Aesir attack Atreus's shield, Kratos.

We can also examine this defensive behavior in how he talks to others.

He's wildly, and even unnecessarily abrasive. He seems to enjoy goading people, particularly Atreus when face to face with the boy. He seems to put up a front of being confident and cocky, but I don't think he really is. It's more likely he's emulating the older or more favored relatives around him. Thor's combat confidence (which is well earned on Thor's part because he is a tough one to fight), Baldur's taunts and goading, and possibly even something of Magni's cockiness.

In his last moments, in his second to last encounter, when Magni dies... In those moments we see the facade slip. We see him for what he is: a cowering little boy.

Tl;Dr: Modi, like Magni, is a victim of abuse. There is no denying that, especially as one of his last experiences was being beaten by his father. But he was just as willing and likely to perpetuate the abuse because it's what he knew and he wanted to take out his grievances on someone smaller than him. He's a brat and a bit of a creep. But it is also very likely that inside, he is just a kid trying to emulate his idol, his father

[charalysis]

Thinking about how Angrboda asked Atreus if Kratos draws and he laughed and said "no" but we see Kratos' journal and there are beautiful drawings of things he is describing haha

[charalysis]

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.

[charalysis]

So, let me clarify something because it's apparently needing saying.

I am all up for discussion on my posts and about characters people want to discuss. But under no circumstances am I okay with people coming into my DMs to essentially write their own fanfiction about a character. I am here for analysis of characters as I see them and for picking apart what we are canonically presented.

I am happy to debate the character's potential as well, but I am not comfortable with people choosing to DM me about how they think a minor character can become the bestest boi in the world and be the strongest boi. I am not chill with people sending me ideas then constantly going, "Yeah but..." when I bring up what I think are valid arguments against what they're saying. I don't appreciate it when I am conceding points and I barely get it in return. That doesn't feel like a discussion to me, that feels like someone trying to persuade me into preferring their ideas over my own.

Enjoy your AUs and your head canons y'all, I'm not gonna yuck someone's yum. But I do want to set this boundary of please don't message me to debate with me about things that are explicitly not canon or even eluded to by the media.

[charalysis]

Odin is a hypocrite, a well known hypocrite, so could have very well shut down the spear thing if Modi tried using one, but you do make a good point that he may not have cared. It's difficult to tell because Odin is... Well Odin lmao. I could go either way. Might pull a, "rules for thee, but not for me" type of thing.

I genuinely do not know if Modi would have reached a sort of spot like Atreus's had he embraced his giantness. It's possible, but it's also likely that because Modi is Thor's boy, Thor would have stood up to Odin or caused issues Odin didn't want to deal with if Modi got badly hurt or died doing something Odin specifically sent him to do related to that mask. Again, It's hard to tell because Odin doesn't seem to have true morals or allegiances except to himself. One the one hand, ease of access and less chance of betrayal using his grandson. On the other hand, having to dispose of his best warrior earlier than needed/wanted because said grandson died directly because of him.

As for if Modi survived, it is possible. But I personally find it to be a very small chance. And I don't think it would have been from anyone saving him. I personally think his character growth could be very interesting if up until the point he woke from the stabbing and fall, he truly believed his family would look for him and rescue him. Only for him to realize everyone must assume he's just dead and didn't care to, or had zero leeway from Odin, to come find him. From that point, he could have forsaken ties to his family and decided no more appealing to them, no more trying to impress them. His "fall from grace" as it were being the push to find out who he really is and what he wants.

With seeking knowledge like Odin, he could go one of two ways. One, because of Thor's insistence on "no thinking", it takes him a while to work past that and he chooses to learn things he never could before.

Two, balls to the wall, head first into obsession just like Odin, which would also betray who he actually is. Which could be interesting to explore in its own right. And given Modi's poor impulse control we see in the game, that ones entirely possible.

Modi's potential

Hey @charalysis. I wanna read your thoughts on a perspective for Modi I had while writing my fic.

I previously said that Modi was trying to be like his father and yet failed, right?

Well, who is he actually like?

Think about it. Modi tried to be like his father in battle. Rushing into battle without thinking, not wearing armor and dressing like his father, and having a mace that mimicks Mjolnir. But he couldn't mimic his father's lack of caution or concern for his safety. He got a mace that can shoot lightning from a distance. He got a shield. He has a blinding technique with his brother. Modi is a man of caution like his grandfather. He likes using magic more than physical attacks. He likes to defend himself and hinder his enemy before finishing them off.

When Thor comes to Kratos's house, he is polite. He asks permission. He brings a gift. He sets his weapon down. He doesn't talk lowly to Kratos or insult him. Modi is not like that. Odin is not like that.

Odin barges into the house, struts around like he owns the place, insults Thor and his children drinks from both cups and just flaunts his power. Modi threatens Mimir, makes fun of Atreus and angers him, and insults Faye and Kratos. Modi is a talker. A flaunter like his grandfather.

Modi is like Odin in many ways. He is Half-giant and probably exhibited signs of giant magic before Thor beat it out of him. He is stuck between trying to be like Thor and being his nature which is similar to Odin. I think if Modi turned out to be alive and started embracing his nature. He would use a Spear/Shield combo. The spear is a dangerous, long distance melee weapon and it can double as a magical staff, and the shield to protect him. I think he would start embracing his giant magic as well and learn many spells like Odin.

If Modi was alive, and stopped trying to be like Thor, he might have become like Odin. Even became his right hand when he was alive. I say he would no longer be afraid of his father and seek revenge against him. You might say he'd be traumatised, but he has spent his entire life in fear of his father that the near-death beating he gave him was basically a breaking point.

What do you think?

*Writes new ideas and notes for my fic*

[charalysis]

Interesting take!

And I can definitely see how he is like Odin in the, "I'm gonna do what I want" category, and in using magic to remain at a safe distance.

I think, however, Modi is a bit of a personality mirror. I believe he's looked at what's praised about those he's meant to look up to and tried to emulate them. Yes, Odin insults Modi and Magni when at Kratos's home, but he's so... Blasé and casual about it. It's done in a way that's meant to be viewed as an irrefutable fact.

Modi, on the other hand, insults and taunts more like his Uncle Baldur and Uncle Heimdall.

Baldur was actually another of Odin's favorites due to his hatred of Freya and willingness to do anything to be freed from his curse. Baldur was another person Modi would have to look to for how to be to please Odin most.

Heimdall was exceptionally loyal to the point of blindness to Odin. Modi doesn't seem to share this loyalty to Odin necessarily, but it's not unfair to assume he tried to at least once to be like Heimdall.

Heimdall and Baldur both insult and taunt to hurt, to get a reaction, to goad. They're cocky and itching to either fight (Baldur) or make someone look stupid (Heimdall). It's not unreasonable to suggest Modi learned his taunting and insults from them, though probably mostly Baldur.

I don't know if I could see Modi using a spear, at least not if Odin had been alive, as spears are Tyr's motif and we all know what Odin thought of Tyr. That said, I don't think it's unreasonable to see him using a spear and shield, as it's a reasonably good offensive and defensive combo. Which would be helpful if Modi had more discipline and structure to his fighting style, rather than the erratic throw shit everywhere style he does have.

The weapons we see him with in game are short range and defensive weapons. It's also very likely meant to show the kind of person he is, which it very much does in my opinion. He won't face his problems head on and he tends to hide behind a literal shield, and behind a barrage of lightning. The metaphorical shield here being his false bravado and stabbing insults and taunts.

Unfortunately, as stated by Kratos in the new DLC for Ragnarok, Modi and Magni were almost destined to fail, whether they died or not. Beaten and abused by their parents, Modi presumably being abused worse as he was the least favored child. They were both pawns to Odin, presumably abused verbally by the likes of Heimdall and others on Asgard, and they were sent alone and unprepared against a foe they did not understand by Baldur.

Had Thor himself and his son's survived, I believe it possible that, with some guidance from Kratos and possibly Tyr, Modi could have grown as a person and developed his own style and fully his own personality. Likely even becoming a better person overall and, dare I say it, friendly to others.

One thing that will always irk me, however, is the way Modi spoke of Atreus. Asking Magni if he could "keep him", and trying to kidnap Atreus from Kratos and force him to be his little brother. I think Magni had severe control issues due to so much of his life being wrangled by his father and Odin and uncles. And Thrúd, while he was apparently close to her, was off limits to control and mess with, from what we can tell. So, like Magni likely controlled or even abused him, he wanted a smaller person to control. Someone he could feel empowered over, as he likely felt like he had no control himself.

And circling back to your point of him becoming like Odin, at least in the control context, that could be something he admires about Odin greatly. The power and authority Odin so easily holds is genuinely awe inspiring. Having no control in his life, Modi could easily want the sort of authority his grandfather has.

If Modi had more control in any factor of his life, I could absolutely see him losing fear of Thor. I could see him being able to stand up to him and perhaps even challenge his father physically.

Now... Back to Odin. The idea Modi could become Odin's right hand in essence is assuming Odin has one to begin with. Odin doesn't have one, and he frankly has a very low opinion of everyone, not just Thor and his boys. Even Heimdall and Baldur were objects and tools to him, not sons. Odin uses everyone around him for his own ends. He doesn't trust anyone, not even Atreus. And Atreus was the closest to gaining a position like right hand man. I think even if Modi gained confidence in himself and grew his own power, even if Odin respected him more, he could still very well end up tossed aside as easily as all his other family.

But it's still interesting to think on, certainly!

Final note: I wonder more so if Modi's true nature is actually nothing like Odin or Thor. It's possible he's actually not really cut out to fight or rule or anything like that. What if his own giant nature was much stronger than anyone thought and he's actually like Atreus? Soft and gentle, compassionate and protective. What if his real personality shined as a child, but Thor worried such softness would get the boy killed, especially by Odin? What if Modi just... Isn't like anyone around him, but he has to suck up every ounce of what Odin approves of just to have a chance of being noticed or surviving?

Anyway lol, I thoroughly enjoy reading your thoughts on Modi! I can tell you're very passionate about his character and it's super fun to see! ✨🩵

Modi's potential

Hey @charalysis. I wanna read your thoughts on a perspective for Modi I had while writing my fic.

I previously said that Modi was trying to be like his father and yet failed, right?

Well, who is he actually like?

Think about it. Modi tried to be like his father in battle. Rushing into battle without thinking, not wearing armor and dressing like his father, and having a mace that mimicks Mjolnir. But he couldn't mimic his father's lack of caution or concern for his safety. He got a mace that can shoot lightning from a distance. He got a shield. He has a blinding technique with his brother. Modi is a man of caution like his grandfather. He likes using magic more than physical attacks. He likes to defend himself and hinder his enemy before finishing them off.

When Thor comes to Kratos's house, he is polite. He asks permission. He brings a gift. He sets his weapon down. He doesn't talk lowly to Kratos or insult him. Modi is not like that. Odin is not like that.

Odin barges into the house, struts around like he owns the place, insults Thor and his children drinks from both cups and just flaunts his power. Modi threatens Mimir, makes fun of Atreus and angers him, and insults Faye and Kratos. Modi is a talker. A flaunter like his grandfather.

Modi is like Odin in many ways. He is Half-giant and probably exhibited signs of giant magic before Thor beat it out of him. He is stuck between trying to be like Thor and being his nature which is similar to Odin. I think if Modi turned out to be alive and started embracing his nature. He would use a Spear/Shield combo. The spear is a dangerous, long distance melee weapon and it can double as a magical staff, and the shield to protect him. I think he would start embracing his giant magic as well and learn many spells like Odin.

If Modi was alive, and stopped trying to be like Thor, he might have become like Odin. Even became his right hand when he was alive. I say he would no longer be afraid of his father and seek revenge against him. You might say he'd be traumatised, but he has spent his entire life in fear of his father that the near-death beating he gave him was basically a breaking point.

What do you think?

*Writes new ideas and notes for my fic*

[charalysis]

As for his status of life, even if Modi survived a stabbing and that beating from Thor AND the fall, without help, I doubt he survived. Thor's shame likely would have prevented him from seeking out Modi as well, because as much as he acts indifferent, Magni and Modi were his boys and he did love them.

And yes, Modi is a mini Thor. I fully believe the reason Thor drinks, self isolates, and puts on the front he does of indifference and hate is because of self hate for the giant part of himself. Which would absolutely be compounded by him possessing giant abilities and traits.

If he was even a modicum of who or what his mother was, Odin would very likely have projected his resentment of her death onto their son, and thus create the self hate and internalized racism we see within Thor. Thor is probably actually a teddy bear of a man, loving and adoring of his family... But he's been beaten, literally and metaphorically, down by his father and the expectations of Godhood.

And Modi was NOT the favored son. Modi looks exactly like his father and idolizes Thor. He seems to believe that if he just made himself more like Magni and Thor, maybe, just maybe, he'd get the same love and respect his brother does. His mace (which is in no way a weapon the old Norse folk had) tries to mimic the shape of Mjolnir.

Modi struggles very hard I assume with self loathing, because he wants to be just like his father, but Thor rejects him at every turn. And I think he does have the same empathetic abilities Atreus (and likely Thor) have, because I doubt he just... Makes "your mom" jabs regularly honestly. He probably got smacked if he did in Asgard. But he can tell how badly, even without Atreus's anger, how much those comments pissed off the kid, so he just. Kept. Doing it.

And I think Modi is also an attention seeker, because of the deprivation of it. So he acts out in order to get attention, any attention. Honestly probably something Thor did as a child after the loss of his mom and emotional retreat of his father. Odin views both Thor and Modi particularly as low lives and disgraceful.

Thor likely did what he did to Modi to get the giant traits out of him because he genuinely felt it the correct course of action. Because if Modi just acts fully Asgardian maybe Modi will be treated kinder by Odin and Asgard?

Also we can't be entirely certain that Modi didn't get giant traits just from Thor. It's unknown if GoW canon says Sif is outright his mom, or if it follows Norse canon in that regard with Modi's mother being a giant herself.

But yeah! Thor sees himself in Modi and can't stand looking in the metaphorical mirror, so he shins Modi.

Thor

SPOILERS FOR GOD OF WAR RAGNAROK AHEAD

In God of War, Thor is less of a consistent threat, and more of a minor antagonist. He's huge in stature, imposing and comes off cold. He's got the power to back up his appearance too. But throughout the story, Thor is shown to be depressed, reserved, and honestly broken.

Where, though, does this brokenness originate? The obvious answer is Odin, his father, but let's delve into the how, why, and theories I have on the why.

Thor was born to Odin and his Jotnar mother, Fjörgyn. Odin, despite his hatred of the Jotnar, adored Fjörgyn, marrying her. His love was so great that, according to Mimir, he was not the same after her death. It is implied by a lore marker that their own son was somehow responsible for Fjörgyn's unspecified demise.

It mentions that her body shall be borne to "where nevermore the Thunder may find her". In addition, the same Marker says that "for her gift of life, her life was claimed", further supporting this suggestion.

Its not clear when she died in Thor's life, but I have two ideas. One, Thor had a temper since childhood and in a fit, killed Fjörgyn. Two, Fjörgyn passed away giving birth to Thor and Odin, in his grief, blamed the newborn Thor. Either way, this sets the stage for the dynamic between father and son.

In game, we routinely see Odin insulting Thor, belittling him, and generally emotionally abusing him. Based on how used to it Thor seems, it's likely Odin has done that since he was a child. Odin claims Thor can't be gotten along with because he won't accept kindness, and has always been rude. Odin fails to acknowledge that's he is responsible for Thor's lack of empathy and inability to accept love.

Thor was raised as a tool, not a son. Thor's humanity isn't recognized by the person who was meant to love him. Instead, that person was the first to hurt him deeply.

Thor also references the idea of not thinking, saying Atreus's thinks too much, and saying "no thinking" often. This ties into Odin's abuse of Thor. Thor can't question him if he can't have an individual thought, thus Thor was taught to never think for himself.

This is why Sif is so important in his life.

Sif brings him back a bit, helps him remember he is actually allowed independent thought. He's allowed to make choices for himself and his family without Odin butting in. Unfortunately, there's little she, or their daughter, can do. Thrúd is convinced Odin isn't a monster so she doesn't stand up to him. Even when Sif reaches Thor, he struggles to act on her words and suggestions because Odin has the power, and mindset, to kill him if he stood being Odin's pawn. Which, he inevitably does.

Odin kills Thor at the end game of Ragnarok. Kratos finally reaches Thor, convinces him change is possible and in reach. Thor tells Odin no.

Odin runs in through in anger.

This all isn't to say Thor was a pure victim in life, absolutely not. He murdered hundreds of giants, abused his sons, and was generally regarded poorly by all. However, these actions were initially planted into him by Odin. Thor is an example of an abuse victim growing to perpetuate the cycle unfortunately.

With his sons, particularly Modi I think, Thor beat discipline into them from what Mimir had said. Something that Odin allegedly had done to him. Hence why when Modi returned home without Magni and the mission overall failed, he beat Modi near to death.

Thor is so convinced he's a destroyer, a problem, that he continues to perpetuate abuse until his sons are gone. Then he turns further into self hatred and self harm with his alcoholism, which, once more, only serves to further cause his family harm.

Tl;Dr: Thor is a deeply broken man who suffered abuse from very early in life at the hands of his father. He continues the cycle for many years, and when he finally tries to break it, it costs him his life.

[charalysis]

Darksiders: Fury

And finally onto our last Horseman, Fury.

Fury was long awaited by Fans when her game released, everyone eager to see the lone woman amongst the Four and who she was to be. Many speculated for a bit that maybe she'd ironically be the levelest one of the group (at least what I saw).

Fury, is in fact, consistently furious and snappy. She is aggressive, if not hostile. She's petulant and snotty. Often she is tactless and rude. She is self centered and holds herself in very high regard, thinking she's the strongest.

She wasn't chosen to kill the Sins because she was the best for it or just the only option to the Council. No, they sent her because she was most susceptible to them which we shall dive into here. We can actually go about this today in list format and discuss the ways in which Fury has been like, or is like, the Deadly Sins themselves.

Starting off with the easiest,

Pride: Fury holds herself in incredibly high regard at the start, believing she should lead the Horsemen. She genuinely thinks she has the raw power and authority to command her brothers, forgetting that the current leader, Death, is far older and far more powerful than her. Death is near indestructible, able to withstand War ramming Chaoseater through him. Meanwhile, the very leader Fury seeks to usurp specifically made an artifact, Nephalem's Respite, to heal her because she kept getting hurt so much. Fury also seems to believe the others would follow her lead, despite there being no evidence that they would. She shows her ass a lot on conversation with humans and Makers, thinking herself above them and insulting them.

Wrath: Fury is aptly named, being consistently enraged, snappy, and aggressive. While War is temperamental and can become utterly enraged, he is typically pretty level headed. Fury, however, loses her cool constantly. She screams at people, threatens them, and is always ready to attack. Its truly not a wonder that Wrath himself likes her, probably seeing a partner as angry as he.

Sloth: Despite her own claims, Fury is ultimately lazy, though its mostly in her quest for power and authority. Until her game, she's actually seemingly done very little to further her own ambition. She's also very easily lulled into nap time by Sloth because, yes, she is tired. But she's not addressing what's made her feel that way. Consistent, sustained anger, hurt and grief over Rampage, loneliness without her brothers, feelings of unworthiness as she kept not reaching her goal of leading... She is tired of it all, and she does just want to rest and let the world move on without her.

Avarice: Fury is greedy, but not for material items. She craves power and authority. She covets specifically the leadership role Death occupies and is eager to claim it, and hold it. She seeks a lot from others in general, upgrades, items of power and use, information... She's very demanding and seeks to almost hoard things for herself to make herself better. However, she is possibly least suspectable to the manifestation of greed, Avarice himself, because he primarily seeks material items.

Lust: Fury surprisingly seems to have the best understanding of what Lust as an entity and concept is. She explains to the Watcher that lust isn't just what humans interpret, that being a concept of seeking physical intimacy, but a more amorphous concept surrounding desire as an entirety. And as she covets power and the position of leader, so too does she long for it. She's almost desperate for it and she desires it so badly, she almost falls for Lust's illusion of her brothers telling her she's the new leader.

Gluttony: Fury is perhaps the least suspectable to Gluttony as a concept, being that the false food is obviously fake to her. She's not looking to gorge herself, or indulge in much of anything, expect maybe power, but she's not a "stuff my face" kinda gal. In fact, she broke Gluttony's illusion pretty quickly, recognizing it as such almost immediately.

Envy: Jealousy is one of Fury's greatest flaws. She is viciously jealous of the power and confidence her brothers have in themselves. She's jealous of Death's authority, of War's strength, and Strife's confident nature. She's trying to be what she isn't and can't be, which is why Envy is the final boss, why Envy is next to her the entire game. Her greatest flaw and struggle is with jealousy.

All these combined, I think its safe to say, Fury isn't actually all that confident in herself, at least not by the end. Truthfully, I don't think she was ever as confident as she painted herself. I think she masked her insecurity behind bravado and rage.

Let's look at her circumstances and who surrounds her.

One, she's the only woman left of the Nephilim. We don't know how women were treated by the men amongst the Nephilim, but I personally think they were treated the same, as a soldier. However, it is possible women were sought out to forcibly create another generation. We don't know for certain. Regardless, being the singular woman amongst her brothers probably isn't a great feeling.

Two, Wrath says that he and the other sins used to call her the dumb one. Now, Fury is as intelligent as her brothers, however she's much more emotionally charged than them, acting on impulse and rage, and she frequently ignores the finer details until its too late. That isn't to say the boys don't also have blind spots or emotional impulses, they clearly do. Death, for example, ditches all other Balance responsibilities to go erase War's alleged crimes because War someone he cares deeply about.

However Fury being specifically called "the dumb one" would be incredibly hurtful and a big blow to Fury's ego. She seems to believe she's the smartest and strongest of the Four, but to have a being she sees as lesser laugh at her and insult her like that would probably hit her exactly where she hurts most. Its possible she doesn't actually believe she's intelligent, or at least she's buried the idea so far it doesn't crop up until its dredged up again by the events of 3.

Three, she's constantly belittling others. Calling Strife "the delicate one", insulting how Death smells, insulting humans and Ulthane to their faces, treating Vulgrim like crap (not that he's unused to that from the Four, which really, they need to fix lol), and she belittles Usiel for acting to protect his angels. She's frequently using these to draw reaction, or to go " but I'm not like that".

Truthfully, I don't think its until her fight with Lust that she starts to examine herself and her situation. And I think the illusion of her brothers shook her a bit.

For her, leadership is a big goal, but something about the illusion reveals a bit more about her.

For context, in this illusion, Lust is suddenly shot by Strife. The three men approach their sister and explain that they were sent to aid her, but with her as newly appointed leader, so sayeth the Council. What breaks this illusion for her? Her brothers kneeling before her.

Her reaction to this is visceral. Pure rage. Which anger would be understandable at being tricked, but she is righteously pissed about the kneeling. The anger around this is peculiar because until that point, Fury has expressed no care for them, but it seems she cares a lot for her brothers and how they are represented.

Now, I know many will likely argue that her anger is just over being tricked and she's telling Lust off with, "You shouldn't have made them kneel", as if its passive aggressive criticism of his illusion. I would like to argue though, that when Fury has seen through illusions other times (Gluttony's for example), she's smug and will make a comment like that with a lot of smugness. This was pure anger.

This anger tells me that she hasn't truly seen her brothers as subservient and that she actually respects them more than she lets on, and she loathes their depiction as submissive to her will. I also believe this shows she doesn't necessarily want to lead. She just wants to prove herself as better than what others have believed her to be in the past.

(Plus, her Brothers kneeling being the sign it was an illusion is probably linked to the fact that she, War, and Strife probably dont kneel to Death. While Death's the leader, its honestly probably more for group missions or ceremony's sake to them.)

Onto the symbolism in her design! Once more, we may be diving a bit into Biblical symbolism as we did with War.

Firstly, the covers on her ears.

These could very well be linked to a practical desire to protect her ears from the elements, especially when using magic, which ties itself into her hair seamlessly. Symbolically, it shows an unwillingness to listen to others; opinions or reason from others don't go into her ears because she's unwilling to hear anything but what she wants to.

The eye over heart is another interesting design choice. Biblically speaking, we may look to Matthew 20:1-15. In short, "Matthew 20:1-15 is a parable in which a typical Evil Eye accusation is employed to denounce envy as incompatible with life in the kingdom of heaven and detrimental to the community's well-being."(quote from journals.sagepub.com).

This is particularly interesting as Envy is the primary antagonist in Darksiders 3, and once Fury learns the truth and understands clearly the reality, she goes after the embodiment of Envy and relinquishes her own jealousy.

The placement of the eye is also over her heart, symbolically saying she views her situation and life with her heart/emotions over using her head, especially when you consider her own eyes are solid white in color without clear pupils. This gives the impression of her thinking with her heart over her head, thus contributing to her being blind to anything requiring stronger analysis.

By the end of her game, Fury has changed her view on many things. She understands the Council is corrupt, War innocent, humanity must be preserved, and that she's not exactly all that and a bag of chip. She's a bit softer and trying to be better than she was.

Tl;Dr: Fury both a temperamental child and a confident woman, though her confidence boarders on cockiness and her anger outbursts get her into deeper shit than necessary, but she learns better by the end.

[charalysis]

Darksiders: Strife

As a third entry into my Darksiders series, let's discuss Strife!

Of the Four, so far, he's the one we know the least about, even with the inclusion of the book and comics as a source. What we do know, however, is that he's the funny one of the gang. He's snarky and cracking jokes, with some snark sprinkled in. He's essentially the rogue of the group, using ranged weapons (ie guns), as well as daggers for melee if needed.

Strife has also been shown to be a bit temperamental, following Fury in quickness of frustration. He's also straight to the point when he has to be and can even be rude. His rudeness and brashness is particularly noticed when interacting with Death in Abomination Vault, in which he points a gun at Death.

Its not the first time he's threatened his brother's either, having threatened to shoot War to death if he didn't calm down after a rampage, resulting in War's arm being cut off.

And finally, Strife is shown to be the most empathetic of the Four. He feels immense remorse for killing his fellow Nephalem, and he cares a great deal for humanity, wanting them saved and Fury to see them as more than what does at first.

Strife's certainly the most emotionally expressive of the Four, which balances out when paired with the brother he's closest to, War. The two often butt heads, especially around the Council and Nephalem, but they help each other very well. Strife listens to War's more thought out advice and Strife helps War learn to joke and relax a little.

He expresses grief and remorse far more often and easier than the others as well, finding the fact that their people were killed by their hands very distressing. It even angers him when War seems dismissive or detached about it. Connection and community actually seem to mean something to him, especially given he chooses to hide amongst humans on Earth.

He seems to have a great respect, even love for mankind, defending them to Fury (as Jones) and living amongst them in Ulthane's tree. He cares for them and wants them to survive the apocalypse deeply.

He may also be the most introspective of the Four.

War doesn't see passed his singular goal of preserving the Balance easily and needs significant guidance to see truths. He almost tries to not see the truth at times.

Fury is egotistical and hot headed, refusing to see her flaws and faults until she's been significantly beaten down. She's blind to her own fragility and weakness.

And Death, whos relationship with Strife I want to inspect more of here, can't see outside himself, his feelings, and how he wants to run things. Death can't conceptualize the future either, too lost in his past and grief.

Strife looks at himself to see where he's messed up and he acknowledges it. He tries to be better than he was and can recognize where he has to improve.

However, he can end up just as lost in the past as Death.

Like Death, he mourns their lost brethren. He regrets destroying them and he also regrets other deaths he caused. In Genesis, he finds an item in Mammon's Hoard that triggers what seems to be a panic response. We later learn the item is tied to his past and tells War there's a lot he's not told him about himself. Strife seems to be pretty impacted by his last, but is unwilling to share it, meaning its too difficult to bring up, or he's worried his brothers won't support him and help him. Its similar to Death's reaction to hearing about the discovery of the Grand Abominations and his need to handle things alone.

Strife also seems to hide these deeper feelings with humor, snark, and by amping up his personality to 100 so others just think he's an idiot or unaffected by things. His openness around War seems to be a product of their bond however, as War frequently tries his best to comfort Strife, specifically trying to reassure him that he isn't who he was and he can change for the better. Strife seems to take this to heart.

Also like Death, he wears a mask to hide himself. In Death's case, the symbolism of his mask his a bit different to Strife's, as Death's is a mask that helps him hide from others and keep him from being vulnerable. Death's mask is as much a piece of his past as the Nephalem.

Strife's mask covers a lot more of his head and face than Death's mask, and his armor completely covers his body too. We don't actually know even what Strife's skin color is. All we know is his eyes seem to be yellow based on the helmet's glow.

Strife's mask to me says, "You can't know me, I won't let you know me". It also shows a lack of trust in others, perhaps related to his past. And I genuinely believe he doesn't trust people. Perhaps he trusts War and Fury, but certainly not Death or the Council.

The Council is an obvious thing to mistrust, but Death... Death seems odd right? Well no.

Death has hidden a lot from his fellows and Strife is aware of that. Death has hidden world ending information from them for his own comfort and hasn't consulted his brothers about it, or even let them in on it so if shit comes up, they can be aware and not caught off guard. Death is also very prone to running off in his own without warning.

To Strife, its possible Death has proven himself to be a liar and very unreliable. His distaste for Death is further shown when Death is telling them to stay behind and let him handle the Abominations. He outright aims his gun at Death (despite knowing it'll do basically nothing) and threatens him and demands an explanation, one Death refuses to give.

Death and Strife are also pretty similar in their handling if grief and emotions. Bury it and hide behind a mask and snark/comedy. And so another reason Strife me be antagonistic with Death is he dislikes seeing the person he could be if he simply released his morals and was more self focused.

Strife genuinely seems to want Fury and War to grow as people, to be happy. And yet from what we have seen so far, he's not too interested in Death's personal growth or if Death is better.

Another thing to note is he seems to be the most progressive in terms of adaptability. This can be noted in his appearance and weapon use. Overall, Strife honestly looks a little out if place next to his armored, melee weapon brothers. He looks a bit more like he fits a bit into a stealth game set in the seminear future, rather than a hack and slash fantasy. Strife uses guns, much more modern weapons than that of a great sword, scythe, and whip. That's not yo say the weapons aren't as impressive as his brothers, oh no.

Mercy alone is fascinating, being a four-barrell, one handed shot gun with auto replenishing ammo (though the presence of shells on Strife's belts implies he can change ammo types).

Strife is also adept at using daggers, as we see in Genesis, though he does prefer his guns, seeming to prefer to maintain distance. From these things about his combat, and how dodgy he is around his past, we can infer Strife was possibly a scout at minimum, or an assassin, or possibly some kind of intelligence agent.

Overall, we know little canonically about Strife and his presentation in the canon is inconsistent at best. I hope to see a game focused on Strife in the future so we can better understand him.

[charalysis]

Alice Liddle: American McGee's Alice

MASSIVE TRIGGER WARNING: THESE GAMES AND THIS POST WILL BE DISCUSSING THEMES OF S.A, PEDOPHILIA, MURDER, MENTAL ILLNESS, SELF HARM, PROSTITUTION, AND MEDICAL ABUSE.

Alice Liddle of American McGee's Alice and its sequel, Madness Returns, is a severely mentally ill character in the games she stars in. She endures trauma after trauma, with next to no assistance, alone. In this post we will break down what happened to her, her reactions, and how she developed.

Disclaimer: Despite mental illness being the main theme here, I will not be attempting to diagnose Alice, as I am not professionally trained and she does not have an official, canon diagnosis of any kind. I will however make inferences.

For those unaware, American McGee's Alice is a horror twist on Alice in Wonderland, following the protagonist Alice. In this first game, you play as 18 year old Alice Liddle, who from eight years old to that point has been living in Rutledge Asylum in England. The game begins with the player introduced to the catalyst of Alice being in the asylum: a house fire.

In this fire, Alice is the only one to survive from her family, with her parents and sister, Lizzie, dying in the fire. This causes a massive snap in Alice's mind as she watches the house burn and townspeople surround her.

In this scene we are also introduced to the idea that Alice was likely already mentally ill, as when the fire begins, what wakes her isn't the smoke or screams, its Hatter and March Hare screaming in her dreams about the fire, begging her to wake up. (However, its likely it was just a framing device, but we do see its what woke her.)

From then on, Alice spent her time in the asylum, nearly comatose. She was catatonic and would only speak in shrieks and shrill screams. She'd have seizures and episodes of hysteria before falling unresponsive and mute again. Her doctor's notes also describe an incident where she "wielded a spoon like a knife and the orderlies, then turned the makeshift weapon in her own arms".

Needless to say, the fire that killed her family severely traumatized Alice, and she struggles heavily with possible PTSD and survivors guilt.

Alice in the first game also expresses suicidal ideation, or at the very least a passive desire to die. She's heard saying, "Save myself? From death, is that it? Is that why I've come here? I'm not afraid to die! At times I've welcomed death..."

And, "Everyone I love dies violently; unnaturally. I'm cursed! Why go on? I'll just hurt others."

The latter of these quotes is indicative of her guilt; it shows she blames herself for not just her her family's deaths, but others, and believes those she grows close to will also die horribly if they stay around her. She expresses she thinks people are better off without her.

In regards to Wonderlands occupants and how they relate to her fragile and broken psyche... American McGee has stated that all in some way represent her fragments mind and emotions. How, I don't think is explicitly stated beyond the Queen, but I have theories:

Cheshire: Her subconscious and manifestation of Dinah in her mind. Dinah lead her to safety in the fire, showing the way out. Chesh is guide that knows more than Alice consciously knows, but things she's got hidden in her mind. He tells her the clues she's seeing and picking up on subtleties she can't. That's why he uses riddles.

Hatter: Hatter is obsessive and rambling. He's a sort of representation of her doctor in the asylum, after all he runs one himself. He's paranoid and obsessed with time and loathes mechanical malfunctions. He may very well be a sort of ego aspect, where the Queen is super-ego. He could also likely be the manifestation of Alice's own paranoia and frustration surrounding her own "malfunctioning" mind.

Queen of Red Heart: She is Alice. She is the part of Alice that causes her the most grief and torment. She is what keeps Alice locked in her psychosis; a malevolent manifestation of super-ego. Cheshire compares her to a cancer in the body, which must be excised or Alice would die.

Jabberwock: A creature who taunts Alice and accuses her of not caring about her family. He is what taunts her about their deaths and says that she was, "in dream land taking tea with friends", and she, "couldn't be bothered". He is her guilt and self anger and he is there to remind her of this guilt constantly.

Caterpillar: He provides her wisdom giver. He takes things she sees and can help her recontexualize them. He is similar to Cheshire, but more to the forefront. He is also seemingly the calm part of her mind.

Tweedles: looking identical to the orderlies in Rutlidge, the Tweedles are cruel to Alice and lack any higher intelligence beyond orders. They are childishly cruel and likely have something to do with Alice's self punishment.

Rabbit: More obsessed with time than Hatter, Rabbit is a mostly absent guide who rushes ahead of Alice and he's very, very fidgety. He likely represents her conflict between anxiety and comfort. The comfort being from him being based on her favorite toy, and his face being easing to her. But he's very paranoid about time and danger.

Duchess: Initially a manifestation of the cruel nurse in charge of her, Nurse D, Duchess is a violent cannibal. It could be argued her outfit initially resembles a nurses outfit too. Later in the second game, she is seen in more revealing clothes and no longer eats people, and prefers pig now. Her "overbearing goodwill" and appearance now more represents her nanny, Nan Sharp.

While I do not believe these games are a 100% accurate depiction of mental illness and trauma, they do a good job showing the struggle between one's self and the inner machinations of their mind as they struggle with their mental health, and struggle to learn to cope on their own.

The second game is much better about the direct correlation between Alice's real struggles and Wonderland falling apart.

In Madness returns, we see an older Alice struggling in therapy as her doctor, Angus Bumby, tries to make her forget her past. She wants to forget everything rather than continue to struggle with it. We see she's still being abused and exploited by Nurse Witless, who's blackmailing her.

In Wonderland, we see the Corruption and the pollution destroying Wonderland piece by piece as the Dollmaker (Bumby's influence and brainwashing) takes over her mind bit by bit. We see her remembering her childhood and the past Bumby tried to erase, and we see her piece the truth together as she slowly banishes the Dollmaker.

By the end of MR, we see a confident Alice, the pieces of her fragmented life and mind put back together as Wonderland blossoms and Bumby dies via a train after Alice confronts him with his crimes.

Tl;Dr: While imperfect in their portrayal of mental illness, PTSD, and more, American McGees Alice And A:MR depict the grittiness, the despair, and the pain that can come with these things fairly well. It also depicts a woman struggling but succeeding in helping herself and bettering herself. These games revolve around facing your issues head on and healing. Their use of symbology is fantastic in my opinion.

[charalysis]

Darksiders: War

So, I may once again reference real world disorders as a launching pad for discussion about behaviors and actions. I will reference both games and book. Thank you!

To begin, let's talk about War's baseline characteristics.

War is certainly more, shall we say, heroic of the Four. He is loyal, lawful, and regularly tries to be by the book, methodical, and overall tries to be good. Maintaining Balance in the universe is his main goal, the thing he strives for. He wants things to maintain order, regardless of who's messing it up. Admittedly he had a bias against demons, but that's not to say he likes angels.

In his efforts to be a lawful individual, he also strives to be a better person overall by trying to be kinder than other Nephalim where he can. He seeks connection and even affection, with Strife in particular.

Throughout Genesis, War and Strife can stop and talk and often these conversations drift towards the emotional and hard to discuss. Charged topics that Strife has genuine difficulty addressing.

But War helps him work through these emotions and topics, giving him his own perspective and trying to ease his mind, even if it fails or they disagree. No matter what, War seems incredibly willing to stay by Strife's side.

This loyalty and desire to help and seek connection is also present in Abomination Vault, when he goes to help Death handle the crisis, despite being told no and even threatened. He is eager to help the eldest Horseman, and he is even angry at himself for nearly dying/dying, thinking he's failed Death some how. He doesn't even question it when he's brought back by Death, he just rambles about his failures and saying Death should have let him die.

And with Fury, he shows he cares for her. When Fury is summoned to handle the Seven Sins, War is already bound by the Council. She's surprised by his state and the accusations, but ultimately is dismissive for the moment. War, on the other hand, speaks to her. He tries to warn her to be cautious, tell her something is acting against them and trying to hurt them, showing he very much cares about her well-being and safety.

War is repeatedly shown to be caring, in his own way, with his brothers. He worries about their safety, tries to assist them as needed, and tries to comfort them in their grief or anger. He is exceptionally loyal to them and doesn't seem eager to betray or harm them.

Loyalty, while being a fantastic virtue, is ultimately one of his biggest flaws too.

From Genesis and a good bit into the first game (canon's timeline wise), we hear him constantly say that he doesn't think he or the others should question the Council. He's the biggest believer in the Balance and is the most eager to maintain it. He is unwaveringly and unquestioningly loyal to the Council, which is ultimately why he doesn't suspect them directly of screwing him over until much much later on in game one. His loyalty blinds him to the notion of betrayal from the Council.

However, whenever he finds out his loyalty has been betrayed, he is far from afraid of going scorched Earth and enacting revenge. He, with Uriel's assistance, kills the Watcher for his treatment and for being a pawn in the clearly corrupt Council's machinations against the Horsemen.

And revenge/vengeance is apparently something War isn't unknown for. He's clearly displayed enough "eye for an eye" behavior over the centuries for the Council to note its a perfect motivator for him. Thus, he became their scapegoat and was thrown to Earth to prove his innocence. And Samael later points out that he "knows a quest for vengeance when he sees one". Samael's semi-Omniscience aside, he isn't wrong in just making the assumption. War was absolutely aiming to make Abbadon, Straga, and anyone else in his way pay for their actions. I do find it interesting that, ultimately, he chooses to spare Ulthane and Azrael.

Granted, Ulthane does help him more than hinder him despite being antagonistic. And in the case of Azrael, War realized he needed the angel's help, then also saw the immense regret within him. Of course, War is also fully aware that Azrael is a powerful archangel, adept in illusions. He also likely wouldn't have risked a fight with Azrael lest he die, or he actually kill the angel and lose out on valuable information. All this to say, War's intelligent and isn't a stranger to variables, despite often acting on emotions.

Despite popular belief, War is not hot headed or temperamental. War is actually extremely level headed and calm. He thinks through his actions and possible causes. He tries to account for all outcomes, and the consequences of his actions. If he can gain a tactical advantage.

Because he is an embodiment of war itself.

Wars are brutal, bloody, violent... But it's not about whos weapon is better that wins. There's strategy, planning, and a lot of luck.

War himself strategizes a fair bit when it comes to who he can keep alive and who he can get away with killing. Who can be his ally and who he can sacrifice as a foe. He measures who he can take on and who's not worth it.

Its why Samael and Vulgrim don't die, despite War's bias against demons.

Samael, even in a weakened state, is too powerful for War to take on alone. Samael, though, offers assistance if he himself is helped first. War isn't stupid enough to reject help from someone he a, can't kill, and b, is offering their powerful assistance.

Vulgrim had the benefit of Council endorsement at first, but War certainly realized the value he got from dealing with the merchant. Vulgrim offers him health shards, weapon and magic upgrades, and of course, Serpent Holes.

The value of these two cannot be understated in the first game, especially since War is utterly alone otherwise. They're who we spend most of the game with, aside from the Watcher.

Now onto my favorite topic! Symbology!

Similar to Death's mask, War's got a hood obscuring most of his face, particularly his eyes. In fact, he often has to adjust how he's looking around to properly see sometimes.

In terms of symbology we can infer this to be representative of his own clouded and obscured view of things. He has to shift the facts into just the right order and perspective to see the truth of what's happening to him and what happened to cause the apocalypse.

Another piece of symbology is which arm of his his prosthetic.

The left.

Biblically speaking there's a few things to address, as Darksiders is heavily based in Christian and Jewish mythology. I am wildly unfamiliar with Judaism and their symbology, despite lengthy research attempts, and thus am uncomfortable addressing the possible symbology on that side if things. However, I am familiar with Christianity.

In the Bible, the hands are referenced a few times, but the right hand is referenced about 100 times, where as the left hand is mentioned maybe 25, all negatively. However I wish to focus on one particular passage.

Matthew 6 says, "Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. [3] But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: [4] That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly."

This essentially says, "don't tell everyone when you're being generous. Don't brag about generosity or your righteous deeds, for that's not righteous or virtuous. That needs to stay between you and God".

In the case of War, he doesn't often hide what he's doing when he's been told to do it by the Council, often announcing it to those he deems allies. He's not exactly subtle or easy to miss. Nor is his prosthetic.

He's obviously a Horseman, he's obviously on a mission when he's seen out places he's not normally. Everyone knows something has happened, or going to happen, when War shows up. War isn't keeping his service to the Creator secret in any way.

Outside of Christianity, and into more occult and spiritual circles, the left hand is symbolic of dark magic, darkness, and weakness.

War's left arm is the one he was wielding Chaoseater with when Death cut his arm off.

Since that, hes worn a almost demonic looking, magical prosthetic that basically has a pocket dimension I think.

When his arm was cut off, it was in a moment of emotional weakness, and he just so happened to run Death through, a far stronger opponent. So his weakness was cut from him in a way and replaced with the stronger, and useful, prosthetic gauntlet.

Bad segway: War's also not taken as seriously by the other Horsemen. He's the baby of them, likely the last of an entire generation of young Nephalem. Often it seems the other three don't take him seriously until he proves them right. Strife though seems more willing to hear him out, but that could be because they're pretty close, even able to laugh together.

Tl;Dr: War is intelligent and loyal, even kind, but lacks the ability to see passed his ambition or goals until its almost too late. He's also surprisingly impulsive.