When I first playedGod of Warduring the early pandemic, it was Atreus who I most connected with. As I made my way through the realm of Midgard to scatter his mother’s ashes, Atreus reminded me of what it was like to be a young man who has a problematic relationship with his father. Kratos is the star of the show in the 2018 game, but things shift in God of War Ragnarök. He shared screen time with a now-teen Atreus, who many fans and critics have written him off as annoying for his constant rebellious actions against his father’s wishes.
But I say the demi-god boy deserves a little more respect.
TheNorse apocalypse is approachingin Ragnarok, and Kratos and Atreus must gather their allies to battle against godly foes. The scope of the game is grander, but it still focuses on the father-son relationship from the previous game. Atreus struggles to stay under his father’s guidance. He wants to make things right with Freya and find a way to avoid conflict with Odinhisway. The problem is, like any loving father, Kratos doesn’t want harm to come to his son and sees Atreus’s actions as impulsive and dangerous.
The tension between the two was there in the first game, resulting in part from Atreus’s inexperience, and in part from anger over the death of his mother. He constantly hurled himself into dangerous situations and Kratos was always there to help him pull through. Godhood, according to Atreus, was something to be embraced. For Kratos, it was something he feared due to his own traumatic experiences.
This push and pull between the father and son made Kratos out to be a sympathetic character and Atreus the ‘whiny kid’ who you had to chauffeur around for 20 or so hours. Kratos, being the adult, made a lot of sense in his arguments while Atreus in his prepubescent voice was misguided and needed his father around as Odin and the others attempted to banish them from Midgard.
Atreus’s attitude and actions are validated when looking at them from the lens of a typical young person. He had only recently found out about his true identity and without his mother there, he had to seek answers from a stoic and emotionally unavailable father. The two ultimately become closer, but Atreus is still his own person and naturally builds his own values and desires.
In Ragnarok, Atreus decides that he’s had enough of living in his father’s shadow and begins to sneak away when everyone’s asleep to explore the different realms while figuring things out for himself. He’s aware of the growing power inside of him, and knows that Kratos can’t prevent it from occurring. His father is trying to prevent something that’s already in motion. Loss has made Kratos an unmoving boulder of a man, but it’s made Atreus a go-getter.
At one point, Atreus sneaks off to Midgard to talk with Freya who vowed to kill Kratos after he killed her son. He seeks her advice because he believes that an alliance between the two could prevent Ragnarök from happening. This is where within the story you take control of Atreus and he becomes more than just a sidekick. Alongside his dwarven friend Sindri, he seeks answers. These scenes reveal that Atreus believes that his father’s passivity is enabling the war, and that he’s displeased with not having someone to look up to who isn’t defined by an entire lifetime he wasn’t aware of.
Related:God of War Ragnarok Shows the Pain of Unresolved Grief
Many people see Atreus as whiny and irksome, but he has quite the authentic teen ideology behind him. In the first game, many of us seemed fine with his childish attitude perhaps because he didn’t play such an active part in it. His curious nature also worked in good character contrast to his father. But in Ragnarok, he’s splitting away from Kratos, as he’s naturally meant to. He’s a teenager and his growing agency is gamified through the sections in which you take control of him and his bow.
When Kratos finds out that Atreus has been sneaking away, he’s understandably upset. Atreus bumps into his father as he exits their home realm. “What were you thinking,” Kratos growls at his son. Kratos is upset with Atreus for “seeking death,” but Atreus rebuts by saying that his father too is seeking it. Kratos’ patience is wearing him down, especially now that Atreus has a secret he won’t reveal. Kratos doesn’t believe in what Atreus is doing, and yet he still follows him. He’s trying to keep his son safe, but Atreus asks him who’s keeping Kratos safe?
This role reversal is important and shows that Atreus is no longer a boy looking to his stoic father for reluctant guidance. He’s growing into his own person, and that person also has the deep desire to protect that which is precious to them. Any parent would balk at the idea of their child protecting them. But that instinct to protect something you love is real, regardless of age. When I was growing up, I too wanted to defend my mom from the harshness of the world, young and helpless though I was. Atreus is valid in his desire to protect his father, even if Kratos doesn’t think so.
Atthe end of Ragnarok, the game hints that the God of War narrative will split into two separate stories: one where a now united Freya and Kratos seek to rebuild the nine realms, and Atreus and Angrboda journey to find the remaining Giants. For now, it’s only speculation if this will lead to two different games, additional DLC, or an entire new saga, but it does prove a big point. Atreus is worth his own narrative now, and he deserves more respect than some of us are willing to give him.
