God of War Ragnarok neatly finishes up Kratos’ part in the Norse era of the God of War series. We are left with a far more hopeful ending and a largely intact Nine Realms due to Kratos and Atreus’ actions during Ragnarok. While it is relatively straightforward, there is some symbolism right at the end of the story that requires a little interpretation and might leave players slightly confused. In this article we explain the God of War Ragnarok Ending.
God of War Ragnarok Ending Summary:
- After the events of Ragnarok, Odin is defeated and Asgard is destroyed, with most friendly characters and civilians being evacuated to the other realms.
- Freyr gave his life at the end to allow the other characters to escape, temporarily blocking Ragnarok’s (the monster that Surtr became) sword. This is in line with actual Norse mythology, where Freyr is killed by Surtr during the events of Ragnarok.
- Atreus speaks with the characters who are gathered in a safe location in Midgard, then meets with Angrboda who shows him and Kratos a hidden shrine in the mountain. This shrine was created by Faye, depicting her destroying the shrine from Jotunheim, which predicted Kratos’ death, followed by her own death. This allowed Kratos and Atreus to make their own path and prevented the original prediction from occurring.
- Atreus now ready to go out on his own commits to finding the rest of the Giants, in the marbles where their souls are held. Kratos agrees to let him go alone.
- Kratos walks around to find a second set of doors on the back of the shrine, with a depiction of Kratos leaving Olympus, the events of the Norse saga, and a third panel in an entirely different art style.
- Kratos commits to helping rebuild the Nine Realms, with Mimir and Freya both also agreeing to continue on the path with him.
What does the Shrine at the End Mean?
The contents of the second shrine are a bit vague and require remembering some context from the prior parts of the story.
- The first panel is an obvious depiction of Kratos leaving Olympus and reaching the Nine Realms after the events of the prior games.
- The second panel is a depiction of the events of the 2018 God of War, then Kratos fighting Thor at the start of God of War Ragnarok and creating the frozen lightning bolt.
The third panel is where some vagueness is introduced, and requires some prior context and paying attention to parts of the story.
- Looking very closely at the third panel, the original depiction is of Kratos dying in Atreus’ arms, as shown in the original Jotunheim shrine that Angrboda shows to Atreus when he visits her treehouse.
- Painted over the panel is a large depiction of Kratos in a statuesque form, with smaller human figures around appearing to be in reverence and making offerings to the figure of Kratos.
- If you had been looking around Angrboda’s treehouse during The Lost Sanctuary and noticed her paintings, you could have spotted that all of them are done specifically with red, blue, and yellow paint, just like the third panel of the shrine.
- Now, if you remember Odin’s conversation with Kratos at the end of Forging Destiny, Odin says Kratos doesn’t know about the aspects of godhood such as being worshipped or revered by mortals and accuses him of being selfish and only caring about himself.
- But by the end of the Norse saga, one of the biggest aspects of Kratos’ growth as a character is learning to care for others around him outside his family, with him and Atreus ready to fight Odin on their own while their allies help to save as many people as possible in Asgard.
- Therefore the final shrine panel as done by Angrboda, predicts Kratos being revered by other people, which as he states to Freya and Mimir is one he had never imagined before.
Other Interesting Ending Observations:
Finally a few other interesting observations about the ending, post-game, and how it is set up.
- Because of the fact you can do most Favors and Side Content (except the explicitly post-story ones) with either Atreus or Freya depending on when in the story you do them, there are actually different dialogue lines recorded for each while doing many of the Favors. For example, if you do them with Freya, she acknowledges a fair bit how it seems out of character for Kratos to be helping out in rather selfless ways and it shows his growth as a character.
- There are many locations you can return to for some extra dialogue related to Favors once you complete them. For example, if you return to Helheim after closing all Hel-Tears you can have a short chat with Hraesvelgr.
- Post-story you can run across characters from Asgard in different locations to see what they’re up to. For example, in Midgard at The Derelict Outpost or The Canyons.
What Happens After the Story? What Changes?
- Atreus is gone from the game and never returns. Freya replaces him permanently as your travel companion. She has the same Sonic Arrows and Runic Arrows that Atreus had, so you can still explore freely.
- The Atreus-exclusive main story sections cannot be revisited. However, any rewards from Chests that you may have missed in those sections can be bought at the blacksmith’s shop after the story, so nothing is missable. There are also no collectibles or trophies or anything tied to 100% completion in those missable areas. Everything tied to completion can be done post-story.
- Lunda replaces Sindri/Brok as the blacksmith. She is the blacksmith you met in Vanaheim, at Freyr’s camp. She will be the shopkeeper from now on.
- An endgame story mission triggers, called “Beyond Ragnarök”. You complete it by obtaining 100% Completion – See God of War Ragnarok 100% Completion Guide.
For everything left to do after the story refer to God of War Collectible Guide & God of War 100% Wiki.
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