God of War Ragnarök is almost here and players are expecting a surprise. In our God of War Ragnarök review, we gave the game 4.5 out of five stars and an Editor’s Choice award, claiming that the experience was “worthy of the gods”. And, if you know anything about Norse mythology, you won’t be surprised to learn that one of those gods is Odin, the Father of All.
Odin did not appear in God of War (2018), but he still played an important role in the story. As Baldur’s father, Freya’s husband and Mimir’s torturer, Odin casts a long shadow over the war god Ragnarök. If you want to know more about this iconic mythological figure before the game comes out, here’s what we know about Odin from the first game and the Norse myth.
This game contains no spoilers for God of War Ragnarök, other than what we saw in the trailers, but it has important spoilers for God of War (2018) and some of the older games.
Odino in God of War
(Image credit: Sony)
First of all, even though Sony hasn’t shown any pictures of Odin yet, we know what it sounds like. According to IMDB, Richard Schiff of The West Wing fame plays the patriarchal deity in God of War Ragnarök. If you listen closely in the God of War Ragnarök – Story Progress Trailer, you can hear Schiff’s recognizable cadence around the 1:30 mark:
“What do you know about divinity?” he asks. “Has anyone in your life ever adored you? Have I ever prayed to you? Can you imagine that kind of love? No! You don’t care about anything besides yourself. Beyond the monster that kills for no reason.
It stands in stark contrast to the arrogant and power-hungry Zeus of the Greek cycle games, to say the least.
The dialogue seems to fit in with what we learned about Odin in the previous game. We know that in the God of War myth, Odin rules the Aesir from the high kingdom of Asgard. Unlike the cheeky Zeus, Odin appears to fear any threat to his rule, so he blocked the passage between the Nine Worlds. He also imprisoned his former advisor, Mimir, for daring to suggest that Odin should have ruled Asgard in a more peaceful and fair way.
In terms of family relationships, Odin is intimately connected to other important characters from the first game. In this version of the Norse myth story, Odin married Freya, a Vanir goddess, to ensure peace between the two warring divinity factions. They had a son, Baldur, who was the main antagonist of the first game. Presumably, some of Baldur’s selfishness and vanity came from Odin. Freya and Odin separated on bad terms, although after the events of the previous game, Freya is also looking for Kratos’ blood.
Odin is also Thor’s father, who briefly appeared in the post-credits scene from the first game. We know from our God of War preview Ragnarök that there is at least one big boss fight with Thor, so it makes sense that the connection between those two gods will play a role in the story. Also remember that in the first game Kratos and Atreus killed Thor’s children, Magni and Modi. This means that they also killed Odin’s grandsons, and it’s hard to imagine that the king of the Norse pantheon will gladly accept this.
This is all we can definitively say about Odin based on the previous God of War game. But there is another source you can consult if you want more details: the Norse myth itself.
Odin in Norse mythology
(Credit image: Wilhelm Wägner)
First and foremost, it’s worth noting that God of War has always played somewhat fast and easy with mythological characters, and Odin is probably no exception. The Odin we will see in the game is not exactly the Odin you might know from the poetic Edda and the prose Edda, the two main sources of the Norse myth. But likewise, the God of War series has also shown a lot of respect for its source material, so revisiting myths is always a good place to start.
First of all, if you don’t have any frame of reference for Odin outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he is the most important of the gods of Norse mythology. He rules the divine realm of Asgard, where two of his sons, Thor and Baldur, are also members of the court. His wife, Frigg, may or may not be the same entity as Freya, the Vanir goddess of love and beauty. (There are two sets of deities in Norse myth: the Aesir in Asgard and the Vanir in Vanaheim.)
Odin plays a major role in some of the stories that define the Norse myth, but two major incidents stand out, as both portray his relentless pursuit of knowledge. First, Odin tore out his eye and threw it into the mythical Well of Mimir to gain knowledge. On another occasion, he hanged himself for nine days from the world tree Yggdrasil to learn the secrets of runic writing.
The Norse myth also associates Odin with ravens. He rarely travels without his familiars Huginn (thought) and Muninn (memory), who also act as his spies.
In other words, Odin is not a mighty warrior, first of all; he is a scholar and an explorer. However, Odin also possesses martial skills, most notably with the Gungnir enchanted spear.
While we could devote a whole series of articles to the importance of Odin in Norse mythology, there is only one other point that seems relevant here. In myths, Ragnarök is the twilight of the Norse gods, when most of the pantheon dies in a catastrophic war. And, as you might expect, things don’t end particularly well for Odin.
Another character you may know from Norse mythology is Loki, the cheating god, who sets Ragnarök in motion. One of Loki’s sons is the giant wolf Fenrir, and during Ragnarök, Fenrir devours the sun itself. In retaliation, Odin takes up arms against Fenrir, who promptly swallows the god. Odin’s son Vidar kills Fenrir shortly thereafter, but it is already too late for the king of Asgard.
Whether God of War Ragnarök will adapt this particular point of the story, or if it will go with something completely different, you’ll have to play to see for yourself. One thing we do know, at least, is that God of War Ragnarök will put an end to the Norse saga of Kratos, so if the series continues, we’ll need to get to know a whole new pantheon next time around.
