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Passport by Mahmoud Darwish Analysis

Mahmoud Darwish was a renowned Palestinian poet and author who mostly wrote about living under Israeli occupation. Many of his poems were used to resist the occupation and speak for Palestinian people, so much so that he was later regarded as Palestine's national poet. When the Israeli military administration confiscated Mahmoud Darwish’s travel documents in the early 1960s, the young poet distilled the wound into “Passport,” a lyrical protest that appears in his 1964 collection Leaves of Olives and clarifies his lifelong beliefs on identity under occupation.

Darwish opens the poem with a sense of frustration, "They did not recognize me in the shadows/That suck away my color in this Passport." A passport is something that represents a large part of one's identity. It portrays our culture, where we come from, and the language we speak, it encapsulates who we are in the form of paperwork. Here, Darwish expresses how the very document that is meant to verify his existence is instead erasing it. He further presses by saying: "And to them my wound was an exhibit/For a tourist who loves to collect photographs." In this couplet, Darwish points out how this is done without any care for the pain and suffering it leaves behind. Instead, it is seen as a spectacle, something done without even a second thought.

In the second stanza, Darwish opens with: "All the birds that followed my palm/To the door of the distant airport." Birds symbolize the freedom he is denied, as they fly past the threshold that is the airport, he must stop. Darwish then lists off all the things that are a part of his identity: wheat fields, prisons, white tombstones, boundaries, waving handkerchiefs, and eyes. Each one of these embodies his Palestinian identity; the roots of the country and the land, the violence of the occupation, the graves of martyrs, the barbed fences separating Palestinians, and the farewells of loved ones. These are all the true markers of his identity, so taking away his passport was akin to erasing all those memories with it.

Darwish's pain is further expressed in the last stanza of this poem. He laments how he had nourished the land and studied every tree and valley. Yet, the occupying force branded him a stranger on the very soil he nourished. "From my forehead bursts the sward of light/And from my hand springs the water of the river." He declares that he is connected to the land in ways deeper than a mere passport. In the final couplet of the poem, "All the hearts of the people are my identity/So take away my passport!" Identity, he insists, lives in the memories of the people and their shared love for their land, not in a piece of paper confiscated by authorities.

"Passport" is a representation of what connects one to their land. As much as Israeli occupiers can try to erase people's roots, or drive them away from the land they once called their own, their identity remains with them. Nationality is not something that can be defined by a piece of paper, but something that lives within a person and community.

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A Deep Dive into Hozier’s ‘Swan Upon Leda’

Irish singer-songwriter Hozier has never been afraid to speak his mind on important topics, whether that be through his songs or in general. Before the release of the song "Swan Upon Leda", Hozier tweeted about hearing Egyptian author Mona Eltahawy's speech in Dublin, in which she refers to the oppression of women as the "world's oldest form of occupation." After this, Hozier decided to write a piece in which he expressed his support for women all over the world facing different forms of oppression.

The song title itself references a story from Greek Mythology in which Zeus transforms into a swan and pretends to be in danger while he seeks the protection of Leda; a woman he'd been captivated by. Then, he turns back to himself and forcefully impregnates her. The song begins with Hozier singing of a "crying child pushing a child into the night", while her husband waits outside. He paints a picture of a young woman who is scared and in pain, while the man responsible for her pregnancy doesn't come to offer her any form of comfort. "To enact at last the perfect plan/One more sweet boy to be butchered by man." Throughout history, women were often seen as tools used to bear sons. Hozier isn’t just mourning the harm done to women; he’s indicting the system that weaponizes both birth and gender. The boy is born innocent but already shaped by a plan not his own. Violence isn’t innate, it’s inherited.

In the chorus, Hozier sings "What never belonged to angels/Had never belonged to man." The 'angels' likely refer to religion and its historical role in having dominion over women's bodies. Here, Hozier challenges the claim that anyone but the woman has a say in what happens with her body. By stating that this kind of power never belonged to the divine, it certainly never belonged to any man. The final lines of the two choruses intensify this metaphor, "Swan upon Leda/Empire Upon Jerusalem", and later, "Swan upon Leda/Occupier upon ancient land." He draws a parallel between Zeus seizing Leda's body and the occupation of Israel on Palestine. It highlights how domination strips the victim of a right to their own lives, whether it's by seizing body or land.

The second verse tells the story of an old woman smuggling medications through military checkpoints. "A grandmother smuggling meds/Past where the god-child soldier Setanta stood dead." Here, he doesn't paint her as a criminal but rather as a gentle rebel. Most likely, the meds refer to abortion pills that Irish women smuggled when Ireland still had restrictive abortion laws. His mention of Setanta, a child warrior ties Irish mythology with this modern warrior. "Someone's frightened boy waves her on/She offers a mother's smile and soon she's gone." This lyric is cinematic, he paints the soldier at the checkpoint as a young man who was born into this world and humanizes the relationship between him and the grandmother when she smiles at him like a mother would. This is further reaffirmed with the lyric referencing a "gun in a trembling hand."

The most powerful lyric in the song comes in the second chorus; "When nature unmakes the boundary/The pillar of myth still stands." This could be referring back to the sweet boy destined to be butchered by man, and the idea of nature versus nurture. Oppression and occupation are not something that we are born wanting, but something an unjust society creates until we forget why they were there in the first place. Our history is littered with so much violence and bloodshed that it feels natural, but there is always hope for change.

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White Bear - Entertainment Masked as Justice

What is a proportional punishment for a crime, and who gets to decide how far it's gone? In a society where justice is used as a form of entertainment, Black Mirror's "White Bear" explores what happens when penance is turned into a spectacle. What happens when it becomes commercialized and turned into a money-maker? This episode forces the viewer to consider if the main character deserves her sentence, and what it says about the people who take joy in her torture.

The episode starts with the main character Victoria waking up disoriented, with no memory of who or where she is. As she leaves her house, she is met with people who say and do nothing other than film her on their phones. Other than the spectators, she is met with people known as hunters who pose threats to her safety. During her journey, she meets an ally, but also many more enemies, and is subjected to a multitude of dehumanization and abuse. Her ally informs her that they must reach the White Bear Facility, where Victoria is convinced a transmitter lies which is causing people to act this way. Upon their arrival, they are met with more hunters and as Victoria points a gun on one of them and pulls the trigger, confetti comes out instead of a bullet. Here, the viewers, along with Victoria, find out that everything she'd been through was fake.

It is during this scene that we learn what Victoria did to end up in her position. As she is strapped to a chair, her ally and the hunters bow while an audience cheers. Victoria is understandably afraid and confused, and the creators of this fake scenario show a video explaining who she is and why this is happening to her. Through a video, they inform Victoria that she and her fiancé were responsible for the murder of a young girl. Her fiancé, who killed himself in custody, was the one who committed the crime, while Victoria filmed it. As a result, the judge decided that her punishment would fit the crime; being subjected to violence while others filmed her, all while having no idea why she was going through that.

As Victoria is paraded around, people scream insults and death threats at her. We come to learn that the employees of the park do this every day, and wipe her memory at the end of each night so she can relive this torture over and over again. After learning what she'd done, should we as the viewers feel any sympathy towards her? Or were her actions so heinous that she deserved what happened? Victoria has no idea what she'd done. In fact, she's in denial after finding out the truth, believing that she could never do something like that. One might argue that after having her memory wiped, she's not even the same person anymore.

The most unsettling part of this episode however is the audience and the people who run the White Bear Justice Park. What does it say about those who participate in her torment day after day? Are they truly delivering justice or simply indulging in the suffering of another? Had justice mattered to them, they would have thrown her in a jail cell and moved on. Even if they wanted to make her feel the way the little girl felt, they could have had her go through this once. But they didn't want justice, they wanted a performance. Instead, as we see in the end credits, Victoria goes through this torment day after day, with her memory being wiped each time. The truth is, this was never about justice, nor was it about the little girl who had her life taken. The true goals of the White Bear Justice Park are making money and having fun.

The scene during the end credits tells us a lot about the employees as well as the visitors of this park. They treat Victoria's suffering as a fun activity the entire family can participate in, day after day for an indefinite amount of time. Parents are bringing their children to this park, we see people laughing and high-fiving each other after having caused Victoria yet another piece of trauma. They take joy in her suffering and use her crimes as an excuse for their actions. But at the end of the day, they actively participated in hurting someone who had no idea what they did to deserve it.

While this episode is exaggerated, it's still rooted in reality. Throughout history, people have attended public hangings or executions. While it's not as prominent, punishment has always been something of a spectacle. Why is it that people are so willing to watch the suffering and death of someone who they deem deserves it? Most of these people never had a personal connection to the victim or the perpetrator, yet they would want to watch the suffering nonetheless. They didn't need to know anything about the crime, they just needed to be told they were guilty of something.

Black Mirror didn't invent this idea, they just exaggerated it. While most of us wouldn't intentionally cause harm to someone, we might change our minds when told the person deserves it. This episode shows us what happens when people are permitted to enjoy violence. It's not about Victoria or her crime, but about how people responded to it. It highlights how far society can go if we allow it to, and what it says about the nature of human beings.

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Frollo; One of the Most Twisted Disney Villains

Few Disney villains embody the dangers of corrupt righteousness as much as Claude Frollo. Prideful, cold-hearted, and prejudiced, he operates under the guise of justice while enacting violence against those he deems unworthy. From attempting to murder a Romani baby to ignoring claims of sanctuary, Frollo follows his own moral compass while claiming to be a servant of the lord. Frollo's sanctimonious nature clouds his mind and prevents him from believing he could ever be in the wrong. Murdering Quasimodo's mother? She simply ran and he pursued. Demeaning and dehumanizing Quasimodo? He was only looking out for the boy. Burning down Paris? He needed to find the sinful Romani woman. In the opening song of the movie, the lyrics state 'And he saw corruption everywhere except within.' This statement immediately gives the viewer an insight into Frollo's dark psyche.

As the minister of justice, Frollo holds immense power, and yet he uses it not to punish criminals, but to project his hatred. His self-righteousness and inability to acknowledge his faults create a twisted sense of superiority in which he believes only himself to be right, and anyone who dares disagree with him must be punished. There is also a stark difference between the way he presents himself to others and who he is as a person. For example, Frollo routinely reminds Quasimodo of his deformity, while framing it as him only caring for and trying to protect the boy. Frollo even tells Quasimodo, "When your heartless mother abandoned you as a child, anyone else would have drowned you. And this is my thanks for taking you in and raising you as my son?" Here, he paints himself as a hero with a heart of gold who rescued Quasimodo, when in reality Quasimodo's mother died trying to protect him from Frollo himself. In his version of reality, he, himself, is not calling Quasimodo all these harsh insults, but he is simply being realistic about how the world would perceive him. He is not trapping Quasimodo in the bell tower to hold him hostage but to protect him from the outside world which would only seek to harm him. He even refers to the tower as Quasimodo's 'sanctuary'. This behavior is also seen when it comes to his treatment of Esmeralda. He does not see his lust for her as something natural, but as a temptation her witchcraft had cast upon him, and thus she must be punished. Due to his self-righteousness, Frollo sees himself as a hero who is purging the world of sin. He never denies that his actions are ruthless, but he spins a tale of purity, framing his harsh actions as protectiveness or moral duty.

Throughout the movie, Frollo's insatiable need for control is only made more and more apparent. His hatred for the Romani people is not only due to his racism but also because they do not act in a way he deems acceptable. When speaking with Captain Phoebus, Frollo remarks that they live outside the 'normal' order. In reality, he loathes the fact that their actions do not align with what he deems to be moral behavior. Later on, at the Feast of Fools when all the townsfolk harass and humiliate Quasimodo, Frollo does not interject because Quasimodo had directly disobeyed his orders. This moment serves as a power-play to further put Quasimodo under his control, as Frollo could have stopped it at any time. To him, disobedience is a worse crime than the disregard of someone's humanity. When Esmeralda goes to help Quasimodo, Frollo demands she get down at once, but she doesn't. This moment plants the seed of his rage, as it marks the first instance of someone publicly and fearlessly defying his authority. At a later point, Frollo orders Phoebus to burn down a house with a family still inside, and when Phoebus dares disobey, Frollo is quick to command his other guards to kill him. In these three examples, it is made apparent how Frollo believes he is above others. The only other person to call out his actions is the Archdeacon, but he is a man of equal power to Frollo. Because Quasimodo, Esmeralda, and Phoebus, are all people whom he sees as beneath him, he punishes them without hesitation, wielding his power as both judge and executioner.

The song 'Hellfire' serves as a window into Frollo's soul and psyche. He sings of his lust for Esmeralda, however, instead of acknowledging his faults, he puts all the blame on her. While Frollo is singing, a choir of voices in Latin sings along while directly contradicting what he is saying. For example, when he sings, "You know I'm so much purer than the common, vulgar, weak, licentious crowd", the choir sings, "Quia peccavi nimis" meaning 'for I have sinned exceedingly'. In another part of the song, he sings of how his lust for Esmeralda is not his fault, but hers for tempting him. Here, the choir sings "Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa", which translates to "My fault, my most grievous fault." Frollo's self-image as a pure and righteous man crumbles under scrutiny; the audience sees what he refuses to, that he is just as sinful, if not more, than those he condemns. While in the beginning, he sings of Esmeralda's beauty and the sun being caught in her raven hair, he quickly likens it to the fires of hell. He cannot accept that he would lust after a Romani woman on his own, so he convinces himself that she has cast a spell on him. In the last lyric of the song, Frollo says, "But she will be mine or she will burn." The song lays bare Frollo's greatest faults: his self-deception, his superiority complex, and his need to control what he cannot possess.

Frollo's madness is a destructive force, leading him to commit acts of extreme violence all to cling to his power and control. He burns down Paris, arrests innocents, and follows Quasimodo and Phoebus to the Court of Miracles. The death and destruction he causes don't matter to him, because he believes the sin of disobedience is worthy of such punishment. When Frollo raises his sword to strike Quasimodo and Esmeralda, he quotes the Bible, 'and he shall smite the wicked and plunge them into the fiery pit', revealing his unshaken belief that he acts as an instrument of the lord's divine retribution. However, as soon as Frollo utters those words, the statue beneath him cracks and breaks. The last thing he sees is the statue coming to life and glaring at him with glowing eyes before he falls into the fires beneath. His death is not simply a fall, but a manifestation of his entire philosophy crumbling and unraveling in front of him. In the end, Frollo is not the eradicator of evil, but the embodiment of it.

In the end, Frollo serves as a chilling reminder of the dangers of unchecked power and twisting ideology. His descent into madness did not come out of nowhere. Frollo was always evil, always wanting to hold power over others. It took one woman whom he saw as beneath him to stand up to him without backing down. His hunger and lust for power knew no end and ultimately led to his downfall. His tragic end, falling into a pit of fire caused by his violence, serves as a reminder of what happens when someone pushes people to their limits.

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Dutch and the Sin of Greed

"It's man so in love with greed he has forgotten himself and found only appetites." These are the words of Dutch Van Der Linde; a man who lived with a Robin Hood-esque code: stealing from the rich to give to the poor. In the name of freedom, he vowed to dismantle the so-called 'civilization' that ruined the lives of those who didn't fit its mold. He condemned those who took without consciousness all to remain in power. Yet Dutch himself would one day become the very thing he once despised. His greed didn't just creep in, it consumed him and destroyed everything in its path. This slow descent into madness ruined not only his life but the lives of everyone who put their trust in him. So how does a man with such philosophies become the very thing he once opposed? How does one who preached loyalty and fairness allow his selfish desires to destroy everything?

In the very first scene of 'Red Dead Redemption 2', Dutch presents himself as a caring leader, determined to get his people to safety after an event that left some of them dead and others taken into custody. His goal is to gather enough money to take his gang to a safe place where they won't be hunted. He comes off as someone who cares for those he calls family and would do anything to ensure their safety. He condemns the government and men like Leviticus Cornwall who use their wealth and power to trample on those they deem as beneath them. But is Dutch really all that different from them? If we look closer, the subtle signs of hypocrisy begin to emerge. In each of their camps, while most of the members slept in sleeping bags on the ground, he always had the biggest tent. He had the most lavish clothes and played his music loudly, all while preaching equality and brotherhood. Before his betrayal of the gang becomes undeniable, there are many clues that his plans were always to serve himself.

So what exactly is the difference between Dutch and the people he despises so much? It's the amount of wealth they have. Men such as Leviticus Cornwall and Angelo Bronte have enough wealth to also give them power. Leviticus Cornwall kills and harms people indirectly by forcing them to work longer hours and not caring for their requests to be treated more fairly. On top of that, he works alongside the government to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. Dutch, on the other hand, makes his money by robbing banks and stealing from the rich. Although he claims that there are certain philosophies behind who he robs, the reality is that he really isn't all that different from them. He sees himself in them, sees all the things he could have been had he used his wealth or power more wisely.

The most telling sign of his downfall is his relationship with Micah and the reason he is so willing to throw everyone under the bus to work with him. The men Dutch was already acquainted with such as Hosea, Arthur, and John, put loyalty above all else. They want the wealth, yes, but for the sake of the people they are with. They want everyone in the gang to be able to live a better life. Micah, on the other hand, wants to let go of 'dead weight', to get rid of those he thinks do not offer anything in return. He promises Dutch riches beyond belief which only extends to those who put the work in. At the beginning of the game, Arthur believes Micah to be similar to the devil whispering in Dutch's ear, and that Dutch is unaware of the fact that he's a bad person. This, however, isn't the case. Dutch knows full well that Micah is not a good person, especially since in the very first chapter, he says blatantly racist and sexist things. He knows Micah has no regard for the lives and well-being of those they ride with, but what he can't ignore is the fact that Micah would help him keep more money for himself. Micah isn't bound by loyalty or care for those around him, he will do whatever it takes to get what he wants, and this is what draws Dutch in. Micah is one of the few people who didn't judge Dutch for killing a girl in Blackwater, because 'it needed to be done'. He serves as a yes man, never expressing how Dutch should be careful and never criticizes him for going too far.

Perhaps the biggest sign of how badly greed consumed him was when he would, later on, use the Native Americans and the atrocities they were going through to fulfill his own best interest. He suggests that he and the gang should create more commotion between the Native Americans and the army so that their focus would be on someone other than him. The man who once said "What you saw was people who lost everything to savagery, savagery of peasants, failures come from Europe" became the same man who threw all that away, who used them for his gain. He left Arthur to die, the man whom he'd raised since he was a boy, because Arthur challenged him at every turn. Arthur represented everything Dutch claimed to be and wanted to leave behind. He represented the morals and values that Dutch claimed to hold, that were being thrown in his face.

In Red Dead Redemption 1, we see just how far Dutch goes after the falling out of his gang. He continues to use the Native American plight to his benefit. When confronted, he shoots a woman just to escape. He uses the woman's life as a tool to create a distraction, as though that was all she was worth. While some of the other gang members went on to live honest lives for their safety, Dutch never played by the rules because he would never want to live under someone else's philosophies. He believes himself to be better than those he opposes, and even those he once called his family. In the end, he chose death over dealing with the consequences of his actions.

Greed is quite possibly the bane of humanity. It is the cause of destruction, betrayal, and hurt, and it takes away every good thing from society. While Dutch did not cause as much damage as men like Leviticus Cornwall or Alberto Fussar, his greed was the reason people from his gang suffered so greatly. It was the reason many of the Native Americans rode to their deaths. His obsession with the dream he didn't let die cost people their lives, their sanity, and their peace. In the end, his greatest sin wasn't violence, it was putting his ambitions above the needs of those who followed him.

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Repeated betrayal would send most people into a state of anger, oftentimes warping their nature until that grief is all that drives them. In Baldur's Gate 3, Karlach has every reason to yearn for that vengeance. Betrayed, sold, and forced to fight, she thrums with fury towards the people who hurt her. Yet that same heart that fuels her anger also yearns for a life of simplicity; being surrounded by friends and family, free of chains, and able to walk her path on her terms.

Karlach grew up in Baldur's Gate, working odd jobs to support her family. As a young adult, she was hired by Enver Gortash to be his bodyguard, a job that would later cost her her freedom. Gortash, her idol, would be responsible for her deepest betrayal as he ended up selling Karlach to Zariel to be a soldier in the blood war. In Avernus, she fought for her survival and quickly grew in rank to become one of Zariel's best warriors. When the nautiloid ship crashed into Avernus, Karlach saw it as a means of escaping and finally being free. Even after ten years of fighting, she still saw hope, still saw a means to live a life beyond the chains of the hells.

What makes Karlach such a compelling character is that even with her need for vengeance, her main wish is heartbreakingly small; to live a normal life. These two desires run hand-in-hand, and they make her more human. While she is consumed by rage towards the man who ruined her life, she longs for the pleasures of simplicity. Throughout the story, she continuously seeks a solution to the engine in her heart, one that will allow her to live outside of the hells and hug her loved ones. If the player chooses to romance Karlach, by the time they get into Act 3 she asks to take them on a pretend first date. She talks of a life where she settles down and has children, something quiet and mundane, and yet so beautiful and calming. She had so much taken from her and was forced into violence for a decade, that a peaceful life becomes a luxury. Gortash's betrayal, however, looms over her like a persistent shadow, a reminder that until he pays for what he has done, the life she yearns for cannot yet be achieved.

The scene in which Karlach finally kills Gortash is a soul-crushing realization that even with her revenge, the normalcy she craves will never really be hers. It's a moment of anger at the unfairness of her circumstances. "What was the point? I'm still dying. I'm dying. I'm going to die." It is after she enacts her revenge against Gortash that she fully wraps her mind around the fact that her time was short, that even after hurting the man who hurt her, his actions were already done. It wasn't going to change the past, nor would it change the future. It is without question one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the game, watching someone who only ever spread joy and love being brought to tears, not by battle, but by a future she'll never have. Karlach isn't a warrior or a weapon, but simply a young woman robbed of time, her life, and her own heart.

Before the final battle, we see just how much Karlach clings to life. When The Emperor explains how only a mindflayer will be able to stop the Netherbrain, she volunteers without hesitation. In her eyes, it was better to live in an alien body than not to live at all. If the player chooses to talk her out of it, and later convinces her to go back to Avernus where her engine won't burn out. In the epilogue of the story, we learn that even in the hells, Karlach doesn't give up on searching for a cure. She scours every forge, every corner of the hells, for something that will give her a heartbeat instead of hellfire.

Despite her being betrayed and sold to fight in a war for a decade, what is truly remarkable about Karlach is that she never really lost herself. We can still see the same young woman who loved to joke around, have fun, and be amongst friends. Even with the anger she clung to and the revenge she took, her abusers could never take away her spirit. Karlach never fought for the Blood War, or even for revenge, but for herself. She fought for the future that she was denied, and for a life she chooses instead of one crafted for her by lords and devils.

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From Ghost to Guardian - Kratos’ Journey with Parenthood

Parenthood is often seen as the parent teaching their child important lessons, but one important aspect often overlooked is the parent learning their own lessons. In the 2018 God of War game, we follow Kratos' journey into fatherhood, with all the hardships of raising a child. This journey isn't just about teaching Atreus how to survive, but about Kratos confronting his past, learning emotional vulnerability, and trying to become the father his son needs him to be.

At the beginning of the game, after Faye's death, Kratos seems very distant from his son, unsure of how to emotionally connect with him. He becomes more militaristic than guiding due to his Spartan upbringing. One example is when Kratos is teaching Atreus how to hunt a deer. During this scene, Atreus gets blinded by the end goal and he doesn't take the time to study the animal before firing his arrow prematurely. While this is normal behavior for a child, Kratos is quick to sternly reprimand him for not doing as told, instead of calmly educating Atreus on the importance of patience. This is a small, often overlooked scene, but it speaks so much of Kratos' character. He knows all too well what blindly rushing into things is like, and since he doesn't know how to offer emotional comfort, he resorts to what he knows best; orders, sternness, and discipline. Kratos believes that emotions only make you act irrationally because that was all he ever knew. Kratos' refusal to give his son the emotional comfort he needs stems from the walls he'd built around himself for so long, because how is he supposed to be there for his son when he can't do the same for himself?

For most of Atreus' life, Kratos always hid the truth of their shared godhood. To Kratos, godhood was not something to proud of, but a curse that had led to every instance of downfall he'd experienced. In Kratos' way of protecting his son, he shields him from the truth. More than that, however, Kratos wants to bury his past and pretend it never existed. It's not only about his care for his child but his demons that he so desperately wants to escape. This leads to Atreus falling ill after his godly nature clashes with his perceived mortality, and we see Kratos grappling with the fact his ways might not have been for Atreus' own good. When Kratos desperately rushes his son to Freya's home, his stoicism is replaced with desperation. It is at this moment we see just how deeply Kratos cares for his son. He is frantic and desperate, but even in the haze of those emotions, he carries his son with a gentleness he had never known himself. Despite Kratos' harsh and demanding nature, he cares for and loves his son. This moment in the story highlights the true inner battle Kratos experiences with wanting what is best for his son, and how to go about being the father his son needs. For years, Kratos buried his past, but now he must confront it in order to help his son. On his journey back to his house, he is haunted by visions of Athena. This entire scene is intentionally set to show how Kratos' thoughts are racing, even as he remains quiet for the most part. It shows how Kratos' battles are internal, invisible at first glance, and more importantly, invisible to his son for the majority of their relationship. When Athena accuses Kratos of being a monster, just as he had always been, he doesn't object. He believes it to be true, and he doesn't believe he has changed, but he knows he is no longer the monster the Greek gods used for their own gain.

After Kratos returns to Freya's home with the things necessary for Atreus' healing, he realizes the mistake he made by shielding his son from the truth. Burying the past does more harm than good, and Kratos now has a seed of realization of that fact. He finally tells Atreus the truth, that they are both gods. One would believe such a revelation would require a lengthy lesson and explanation of what it is to be a god, but Kratos does none of that. The walls he built around his past and emotions prevent him from the ability to open up, even after the lesson he learned. After finding out the truth, Atreus begins to boast about being a god. This is because he went from being a weak, sick little mortal boy, to a being of immense power. Atreus becomes blinded by the pride of being a god. While he once wanted to help anyone in need, he now believes his and his father's problems are more important simply because of the nature of who they are. In one instance, when Atreus is rude to Sindri, he claims, "We're sick of hearing about little people's little problems." This once caring little boy has turned into a prideful, selfish godling. In another instance, when they come face to face with Modi again, Atreus doesn't care about what it means to kill him. Even when Kratos tries to stop him, Atreus simply states that he is a god and can do whatever he wants. During this part of the story, many players get annoyed at Atreus for acting so pompous, but how could he know better? It wasn't as though Kratos taught him what being a god truly meant. Yes, Kratos did reprimand Atreus for being unkind to Sindri and did tell him that there we consequences to killing a god, but his explanations never went further than that. Kratos' growth is gradual, and at this point, he still hasn't learned what it means to truly teach rather than simply state something and expect the student to blindly follow. Kratos was a soldier, and soldiers do not require or ask for an explanation, they simply do as told, but being a parent is about so much more. To truly learn, a child needs to understand why they must do as told. Even as Atreus gets frustrated and demands his father explain why killing a god has consequences, Kratos doesn't explain.

As they continue their journey, Atreus continues to boast about how great it is to be a god. He speaks of how they are better than others, and their problems are more important than others. However, it isn't Kratos who pushes back on these statements, but Mimir. Mimir is the one who tells Atreus to think about what he saying while Kratos stays silent. Kratos knows all too well what it is like to be blinded by emotions. He went from being overcome by them to shutting them out completely, and this, as mentioned previously, prevents him from being able to open up to his son. He can give commands and state facts, but he cannot, no matter how much he wants to, actually teach his son. Perhaps one of the most impactful moments is when they are just at the gate to the Jötunheim, and Baldur arrives to stop them. Here, we see a glimpse into Kratos' old self when he pushes Baldur against the pillar to the gate. He is overcome with rage and the need to protect his son, and he doesn't see his actions could lead to the destruction of what they need for their journey. In this scene, Atreus doesn't realize he is still too weak to fight someone like Baldur, and no matter what Kratos tells him, Atreus simply repeats that he is a god and can fight if he so pleases. This is when Atreus strikes Kratos with an arrow, and lunges after Baldur. It is at this moment that Kratos sees a glimpse of his relationship with his own father. It is no secret that Kratos' lineage is full of sons killing their fathers. After all, Kratos killed his father, Zeus, and Zeus imprisoned his father Chronos, and killed him as well. When Atreus shoots Kratos with his arrow, Kratos is afraid that he has doomed his son to a similar fate as his own.

Later on, when they end up in Helheim, Atreus is terrified of the vision he sees of him killing Modi. He refuses to accept it, saying that isn't him, that it couldn't be him. Atreus snaps out of his pride just as quickly as he sunk into it, and in this moment he realizes that he became something he despised. It isn't difficult for Atreus to leave said pride behind, because, unlike Kratos, his issues only lasted a small amount of time. Kratos, on the other hand, needs more time to be able to break free of his chains, and his journey is more up and down rather than a straight line. Afterward, the two see a vision from the past of Kratos killing Zeus. After returning to Midgard, Kratos tries to open up about his past, but Atreus claims he didn't see anything. Atreus is lying, but he learned to shut out his curiosity because that was all his father even taught him. Kratos doesn't say anything further, it is much easier for both of them to pretend none of it ever happened. Despite this, Kratos has already learned that burying the past only leads to more problems. He knows he needs to open up to Atreus about this, but still finds it difficult. The end of the game is when we see a big step forward for Kratos.

In the final battle against Baldur, he attempts to murder Freya because of what she took from him. Kratos could have taken his son and left, but this image of child murdering parent leaves him with only one solution. He kills Baldur, and says, "The cycle ends here. We must be better." Kratos knows the importance of ending this cycle, and he also knows there is nothing else he could have done to protect Freya. After their long journey, and this battle, Kratos finally comes to terms with the fact that he must do better for his child. He knows all too well how parents can shape their children, and he wants Atreus to be better than him, than Freya, Zeus, Baldur. Kratos opens up about his past to Atreus, revealing that he killed people who didn't deserve it, that he killed his father, and that he had made many mistakes even with being a god. This is the moment Kratos' walls slowly begin to crumble, both because of his son and for him.

Kratos learns to become a better person because he wants what is best for his son. He went from treating Atreus like a soldier to treating him like a son. In Kratos' attempts to teach Atreus the lessons he needed to learn, Kratos himself learned how to become a better person and a better father. Parenthood often changes people and causes them to confront their own flaws and imperfections in an attempt to be better for their children. Kratos loves Atreus, and it is because of this love that he changes, grows, and becomes the father his son needs.