#i do good to remember kratos's history

[whackk-kermitt]

Remember Me?

Genre: Oneshot

Summary: Years after Ragnarok, Kratos finds a familiar face knocking at his door. Turns out he's not the only God who abandoned Greece.

Warnings: Subtle mentions of classic Greek gods and their treatment of women👎. No explicit content, but some suggestive conversation. (also mentions of young Kratos- who was quite the Playboy)

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Spring had come in flush with bright florals and on-and-off rain. The cabin was glowing in the early evening light. Birds and crickets chirping goodnight and hello to each other. The day had been a peaceful one.

Kratos had returned from a hunt, deer meat cooking above the fire. The smell wafted through the small cabin making it feel a little more homely. Kratos spent these days in between Atreus's visits home, mostly alone. Yeah Mimir was there, and he was good company, but there's not much they had to say to each other now a days.

Kratos was finally enjoying his retirement from Godhood without death, pain, and struggle around every corner. But these mundane days are starting to way on him. Nothing to do except hunt, built, and intend to the land. He very rarely ventured farther than Midgard, or the realm between realms. His days of adventure were over. He couldn’t help but admit to himself that he did feel quite lonely; having no one to enjoy these moments with.

Yes, it was peaceful, but peace is often an illusion.

Atreus would stop in every month or two and stay a while. They'd catch up and he'd rant to his father about the places he's been and the people he's met. Every now and then, when Kratos wasn't ready to say goodbye yet, he'd come up with something he needed to do, so Atreus would tag along.

But a simple knock at the cabin door made both him and Mimir- who sat on his perch in front of a book- perk up. It was not but a few days ago Atrues departed for another journey, so it wasn't him- and he would not knock anyway. Freya? No, she's busy in Vanaheim. The dwarves do not come to visit him, so not them.

Kratos grunted to himself, standing from the table and approaching the door. He hesitated only a second before pulling it open.

It would be out of character for him to gasp, but he almost did. Before him was a face he had not seen in a long time. A face he had thought he never would see again- someone who he had believed had died.

“Well I be damned, it is you.” She smiled.

“Y/n.” He said plainly.

“Kratos.”

They stared at each other for a long moment, taking in each other’s appearance. it had been years, and both their ages have begun to show. More his than hers, he'd noticed. The years have been kind to her.

“Aren't you gonna invite me in?”

“No.” She may have been an old friend, but she was still a goddess, and nothing good comes from a God knocking at your door. “What do you want?”

“Simply to see you.” She shrugged. Her eyes were bright and her body was relaxed. “I heard your name mentioned in a village by the lake. Had to see for myself if it was truly you.”

“Why?”

“Why so abrasive, Kray? Been to long for you to trust me still?”

Yes, but he couldn't say that to her face. It felt wrong. They had… history.

At his silence, she sighed, “I will leave if it's what you wish. I just missed you old friend.”

Before she turned she fought a glimpse of his lips hesitating, she waited to give him time to find the words. He sighed long and deep.

“I thought you had fallen with Olympus.” It was not a question, or him digging for an explanation. He sounded so tiered, and his eyes seamed so mournful. He was voicing how he had hurt when they parted, a hurt she knew all to well.

“Same here.” Here eyes cast downward for a moment. “It is why when I heard your name, I- I had to see.”

Her eyes were always so easy to read.

He stood aside and she looked surprised for a moment that he had changed his mind so quickly. This was new for him, and she won't complain.

Smiling softly she entered the home.

“Well hello there, Las.” Mimir greeted with admiring eyes. Kratos warned him with a glare. “Off the table then?”

“Kratos,” She began with a sly chuckle. “I'm beginning to think that you have a thing for severed heads.”

Mimir gave an offended gasp. “Brother, there was another? I thought we had something special.” He joked but he was genuinely curious as to what the pretty lady had meant. The questioning look he gave her said it all.

“Medusa,” Y/n stated, a sad look briefing her features. “A tale for another time, uh…”

“Mimir.” He supplied.

“Y/n.” She introduced with and alluring smile.

Kratos motioned her to follow him around to the table. She sat as he prepared cups and cutlery for dinner.

“What are you doing here?”

She read between the lines, similar question as before but with a different meaning.

“After the fall of Olympus, there were no more burdens chaining me to Greece.” She paused, remembering something unpleasant. “I traveled away, similar to the way you did, I presume. I found myself in a world called Egypt. It was fun. Chaotic and full of interesting people. Yet it never felt like I could build a home there. After a few years, I grew bored and began traveling again. Eventually, I found myself here in Midgard, and you know the rest.”

He hummed listening to her talk. Her voice was the same as he remembered. Even and calm, almost like a song every time she spoke. As far as he knew, her words were the only ones he heard during his time in Greece, that never came around to be lies. Anytime she had spoken to him before, she had always been honest if she was unsure about anything. She had never lead him astray, and it was the only reason he had ever trusted her in the first place.

But if he was being honest with himself, trust had little to do with allowing her into his home.

“Any you?” She eyed the room. Taking note of all the years of life spent here, and presumably not just by Kratos. “You have family?”

“Yes.” He nodded. “My son Atreus, and the head.”

“Oi, brother.”

“And Mimir.” He corrected himself. Y/n chuckled at that.

“And his mother?” She asked softly, unsure if she still had the right to ask personal questions such as those. She had already come to the conclusion that the mother had passed, looking around the state of the home. There was evidence of a woman, but not for a long while.

“Dead,” He said simply. “She fell ill, nearly ten years ago now.”

“My condolences.” She bowed her head.

Kratos placed a plate of seasoned meat before her with a cup of water before serving himself and joining her at the table. She chuckled at his newly found ability to cook. She would not comment on it at the time.

As they began to eat, they indulged in comfortable conversation. It had been a long time since Kratos had been around someone who knew him. Truly knew him. Not just the stories and prophecies he's been tangled up in. It felt nice to have someone's eyes on him. He had felt before, and again now, that she had been a true ally to him. Y/n had never cared for the God of War, nor the rumors and stories amongst the residents of Greece about him. She had only ever spoken to him as Kratos. Talking to her awakened feelings in him that he feared died with Faye. A feeling of comfort in being seen.

She asked some questions about his life, and where it had taken him since they parted. He talked briefly about Faye and his journey with Atreus after her passing. He told her of Ragnarok. And she commented on how he'd always found himself in trouble with other gods.

While they ate and caught up mainly him talking about Atreus- his eyes had a life of there own, not shying away from admiring her. She had not changed much. Something Krotos noted was her laugh lines; she's had a happier life since abandoning Greece. Much has happened, but he can honestly say the same for himself. He was happy she found some joy somewhere.

“And what of you?” He turned the conversation away from himself. “Did you ever marry?”

“No,” She laughed shaking her head slowly. “No man ever worth my hand.” A sad look in her eyes for only a moment. If he had not been staring so intently he would have missed it.

“You had many options before..”

“None who were worth my hand.” She stated again. “Or at least none who were worthy and willing.”

This he did not quite understand. She was as intelligent as she was graceful in her beauty. A humble and modest woman. She was the most sought-after for marriage in all the time he knew her. He had figured it was why he had never been able to pursue her more than idle flirting. She was above him, worthy of more.

She laughed slyly at his eyes moving over her, confusion written on his face.

“That is way, Kratos.” Her head shook. “Few men has ever looked past my body, so few men were worthy.”

“Hmm.” He nodded. Kratos was guilty of this. He knew it. All his years, encountering her by chance and seeking her out for aid in his quests for revenge, they had flirted and bantered, but that was it. He had gotten to know her without ever asking questions or listening.

He was ashamed of the man he used to be, a womanizer. She had always worn loose-fitted gowns, but he had still seen glimpses of her figure through it. He'd flirt and she’d flirt back, but she'd never let him touch her. Never let him have her the way he wanted to. Her eyes would always make him feel like she wanted him to, but her words always told him no. She'd often leave him with an itch he'd let any other willing women scratch. Because he would not cross the line so many other gods did. But all the same, he had once treated many women as throw-away fun.

He is glad she never swayed from her standards and belittled herself for a man. It was respectable and dangerous considering the men of Olympus.

She would've made a fine wife if he had the maturity then to recognize it.

“I am sorry.” It came out more pitiful and emotional than expected. He regretted the things he'd elude to with her back then.

“For what?” She asked stunned by a sudden apology.

“Not seeing past your beauty.” He chose his words carefully. if she was planning to settle in Midgard, it would be nice to have an old friend to talk to. offending her was the last thing he wanted to do.

“But you did.” She smiled. “You were just not willing.”

“I was not.” He refused. He couldn't believe anyone would see that version of himself as worthy of women like her. He had had trouble believing Faye would see him as worthy once he opened up to her about his past, once she knew the kind of man he was once. So surely not a woman who had seen it firsthand could truthfully say he was- then or now.

“It is a shame you do not see you as I do, Kratos.” She sighed deeply. “Sure, you were a man led by emotion and hormones,” Pausing to chuckle. “But you treated me kindly and fairly. You never hurt me.”

“Aww.” Mimir sighed happily.

Kratos groaned eyeing the back of his head. Y/n laughed nervously, forgetting someone else was in the house. She did not mean to get that personal in front of a stranger.

“Sorry, ignore me! I'll be reading.”

“Anyway.” She stood grabbing the empty plates.

Kratos stood taking them from her hands, making her frown.

“You cooked.” She demanded.

“You are a guest.” He retorted, taking them to wash. She smiled at his back, enjoying being in his company again. He smiled ever so slightly for the same reasons.

“What will you do now?”

“Oh,” She thought, looking up to envision her coming answer. “Likely travel a bit, find a cozy place to settle for a while.”

Kratos hummed turning back to her, watching as she leaned against the table. His eyes took in all of her. Her body was covered in a gown and light armor. Boots and straps fitted by no blacksmith or tailor known to these realms. The colors complemented her skin and hair fairly. She seemed to be traveling light. Her gear would not aid her well in traversing these realms.

“You're staring again.” She mused.

“You travel light, it will not do you good in these parts.” He explained. He did not want her to conclude that he was the same man driven by lust, as that was not the case anymore. “Before you go far I will introduce you to the dwarves.”

“Dwarfs?”

“Blacksmiths- good ones.” He nodded. “They will fit you with what you’ll need.”

“Thank you Kratos,” She smiled to him sweetly. “But I do not see myself going far.”

“Good.” He smiled back ever so slightly.

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Not proofread.

•Kermitts Masterlist•

[stupidrant]

at the end of the day, i'm looking forward for what santa monica have planned out in terms for character arcs and storylines, because i trust them on this and they have me very impressed with the superb writing in the games. there are still many questions left unanswered and i know this was done on purpose so that they could be answered in the next installments. like what happened to the other giants, will the aesir and vanir cooperate post-ragnarok? will there be reparations from the aesir?

i doubt there will be any forced interactions between thrud and angrboda. though i do understand if angrboda would need some time before speaking to her (remember, in the game angrboda mostly spoke to her fellow jotnar atreus & gryla, along with kratos, mimir, and freya. she has not spoken to an aesir and understandably so. why would she anyways? they killed her people.)

i would love to see some type of soul-searching and accountability on thrud's part. yes yes the child is not to blame for the father's sin, but she was raised with whatever aesir propaganda odin & co. came up with. a step forward, true courage and righting wrongs would be an amazing thing to see from her.

real life example; my ancestors did commit unspeakable acts of war crimes against a group of human beings, i am not proud of this part of history and deeply ashamed of it. i would totally understand if someone whose family suffered from what my people did would want to stay away from me. even though it's not my fault personally, but the wounds run deep. then it's my responsibility to respect that, and work for how i can help to heal some of the wounds.

another note: friendships between girls are much appreciated than rivalry, solidarity between girls of different backgrounds (real, mutual respect and admiration and love) is vital to see just in general but also for this series. i do think angrboda needs more friends, especially girl friends. so i'm an optimist, i'm sure there will be something for her that will make me cry tears of joy. (THANK YOU FOR READING THIS WALL OF TEXT HAHAHAHA SORRY I HAVE WORMS IN MY BRAIN)

with the way thor died, i think thrud has already started on the soul searching journey as we can see in that post-rag cutscene and that makes the most sense anyways.

unless what will happen is that she uses training as a way to forget everything rather than confront the internal and external issues (which is a repeat of thor’s drinking habits) which would probably in turn go towards her getting over that somewhere in the next game. Atreus isnt responsible for his fathers actions either but theres a chance he goes to random places and says his father’s name and people would look at him funny. Anyways, I would hope they do the former and if any interactions between her and angrboda are present, i hope it will be only good or good awkward ? ones

[otherworldlygate]

Tales of Symphonia is a really great game. I feel like in terms of general themes and character arcs, ToS gives us a cohesive and frankly timeless story. This obviously isn't unique to ToS, but it's nice that it has staying power.

Just don't look too closely at anything or a lot of the worldbuilding and character arcs start to fall apart!

Obviously I don't mean this in a terrible, bitter sort of way. I've been in this fandom for 20ish years and ToS is at the tippy-top of my list of favorite games; it really feels tailored to me in these small and oddly specific ways.

But good grief it can be frustrating, sometimes. You're telling me that 4,000 whole years have passed and this is the world the characters live in? Four thousand years? Four? Thousand? 4k? That's a lot of years. I'm not saying Aselia, let alone Tethe'alla and Sylvarant, would advance the way our modern society has, especially with the little mana tug-of-war they've got going on, but it's very hard to believe that there isn't a very deep and rich history in both worlds. (I do understand that the game isn't really able to go into detail on all of that, but you'd think it might have influenced the storylines a bit more, especially for Kratos and Yuan.)

The one thing 4,000 years has going for it is the fact that Mithos managed to make Martel into a believed-in goddess. That probably did not happen quickly. But in terms of language? Turns of phrase? Clothing?

The divide between Tethe'alla and Sylvarant almost feels like a mere 100 years instead of 800 years of Tethe'alla being able to flourish. Sheena gawks a bit at steam power but Tethe'alla doesn't really have anything truly mind-blowing, either. No automobiles, no airplanes or airships. Sylvarant feels like the year 1800 and Tethe'alla like 1900. I'd find that perfectly believable in some regards, but the fact that all of these characters speak without accents and such is just...

Well, I just feel like there's SO MUCH room and potential within the world to really highlight big differences between Tethe'alla and Sylvarant, to truly set all of the characters apart from one another. Raine's abandonment was traumatizing, but you're telling me that she never noticed anything weird about it? Sure, she might have focused hard on those ruins she remembers being abandoned at, but what about when she landed in Sylvarant? She didn't have an accent? She wasn't speaking a different language or dialect entirely?

I really feel like there should have been some major culture shock between the two worlds, especially with Tethe'alla flourishing for so long. 800 years is a long time, after all.

And don't even get me started on the dumb lore for elves and half-elf lifespans, especially when, according to that logic, there should be an absolute assload of half-elves still alive who have been alive since well before Tethe'alla started its long flourishing period. Where's the tea from them? Where's the history and lore about them?

When viewed from a more general angle, I think ToS holds up pretty well. It has a lot of good stuff in it. But sometimes I'm just chomping at the bit to see the complexities that could be a part of it realized.

A lot of the character arcs were good...but they could have been great.

And yes...I am aware that the solution to this is, as always, to simply novelize the entire game as I imagine it to be, complete with the complexities that should be present in the worldbuilding and character journeys.

But that does not sound like a very good use of my time, so I will write blorbo nonsense and complain on Tumblr, instead.

[jessjustplay]

Currently Playing God of War - 20 Hours Update

September 19, 2024

I started playing God of War a couple weekends ago. It's definitely not my usual kind of game, but when you see it around so much you get a bit curious. Plus it was on sale for $9.99 on the Playstation Store, so there's that!

The game has been fun, but also very straightforward. However, I am finally at a point where I feel like, "Okay, okay, things are happening. THINGS ARE MOVING."

The PS App says I've been playing for 23 hours, but I think a few of those hours are standby since I pause the game so much. I'm just going to say I've been playing for 20 hours. Which... feels like too long, I thought I was maybe around 15 hours. *shrug*

First, Atreus is adorable. He balances Kratos's bluntness, and harshness with his empathy and care. (Though I would totally want Kratos on my team if the world was ending. Atreus too, for that matter. Boy is smart!)

A small sign of affection from Kratos. See, he does care. In his own way.

Kratos admiring the foliage.

Cool Lady Alert.

A magical forest.

The snowy landscapes in this game are very beautiful.

*Heart Eyes*

I loved this place, initially. But then later on it just blinded me.

Personally, I could do without.

Oh this part of the game made me want to cry. It was very hard to hear Atreus's sadness in his voice, especially when he is talking about his father.

So yeah, I'll be pretty crushed if anything happens to this boy.

Reading Atreus's notes is one of my favorite things to do. I love his commentary!

He got sassy and I loved it.

Kratos surprisingly gives great advice. Usually. I have a notebook where I've been writing anything good he says. (Will share later.)

We did so much for this light thing. (Getting blinded included.)

Yeah okay, his strength is impressive.

Mt. Gagazet lookin' place.

I can only post 30 pictures per post, so I left out some other pictures including a lot of beautiful photos I have of Freya's woods, but I'll share them on another post.

And here's where I am now. After going to that icy place and going through an incredible adventure of climbing towers and hammers and whatever the heck happened (it was a lot and I can't remember the names), Atreus got sick. He's with Freya while Kratos went back home to get his Blades of Chaos, which look so cool.

This is my first God of War game, but I recognize the blades from the cover of the old/first God of War games. Athena also showed up, Kratos said he is no longer her monster, so that's interesting. Obviously since I never played the first games, I don't know his history. But I'm definitely intrigued!

[remycroft]

Cross my Heart, Hope you Die || Heimdall X Reader

Chapter 9 - Call to wind

I woke up heavily confused.

The first thing that confused me was why I was in Baldur's chambers when I vividly remember passing out in the middle of a pavement. The only answer was that I was brought here. But by who? Did Forseti return and find me like that? Or did someone else, possibly Atreus? The thought of it being anyone other than Forseti or Atreus made a shiver run down my spine. I was so vulnerable. I could have been killed or worse.

The second thing that confused me was the fact that whoever it was who had found me had clearly healed my wound in their own special way. They had burned, what seemed like a split in my head from the impact, and my hair with it. I didn't care too much about my looks, but for the lack of humiliation, couldn't they have found a healer to do it for them? Or waited till I was up so I could do it myself.

The third thing wasn't exactly confusing, just annoying and overwhelming, the moment I got up and started getting ready I had noticed that the chambers had been cleaned from my consistent breakdowns over the past two weeks and then a servant came with a tray of food and water. "Eat and drink, please. You look like a ghost and the All-father would not like you to die yet." There was malice in her voice and I questioned whether it was poisoned. I had forgotten about the fact I hadn't eaten or drank. Normally I have to eat at least within a week before hunger kicks in, one of the negatives of being a demi-god, I had to remember. For the likes of Kratos and my mother they could last months, but I couldn't. They had served me what looked like stale bread and cheese, and a red apple which had mold at the bottom. I almost wanted to ask if they were serious but at this point within my fast I had to eat something. If it was poisoned, then I guess I'll have to force the poisons name out of them and get an antidote by any means necessary. Screw Odin's 'no harming Asgardian's' rule. I ate the food and drank, what turned out to be the lukewarm water. She left immediately. I looked around the space and sighed, I really don't want people in here while I'm sleeping, if they had just given me one day I would have had it cleaned. I suppose I may just have to stop sleeping and passing out so I don't get killed in my most vulnerable state.

I also don't want to be killed while I'm awake. That would just be humiliating. If I went down, I'd go down fighting. I would defend myself, Atreus, anyone who was innocent, till my final breath while I'm here and to do that, to be efficient in my skills. I didn't need to just train physically, I had to train my magic too.

In those years with my mother after Baldur's death she had me train both vigorously and then when my magic amounted to nothing, she screamed at me and told me to only focus on my skills with weapons as that was the only thing I was good at. So I did, but I wasn't good enough to actually beat Heimdall in single combat, and if I couldn't beat him, I couldn't defend Atreus from just a simple threat such as Heimdall who just bullied him, he's not Odin or Thor, who I know could do so much worse to him if they wanted to. I know I may not be able to face either of them and eliminate them but I could try and maybe give Atreus time to run. I also know that the only advantage Heimdall has on me was his strength and his ability to violate my mind and give me a massive headache.

~

To begin training I thought it best to improve on what I am weakest at, magic. So I cleaned myself, changed into decent clothes , grabbed my weapons and went to the library. I also thought it best to cover the bald spot by braiding my hair around it into a crown around my head, it wasn't just beneficial to me for vanity, it also kept my hair out of my eyes for later. I went searching for certain books and found all that was necessary; I looked for one on Asgardian history to find out more about my opponents, I doubt there is something about weaknesses but I could at least try, magic as a whole to learn more about the different kinds and what I can use, poisons and antidotes, just in case, creatures of the nine realms for I am somewhat aware some creatures carry ingredients to poisons and antidotes, I also needed to know , and Asgardian fighting techniques.

I found all of them. Although it was a lot more than just 5 books, I was interested in all areas. For example with magic I needed to know what I was capable of so I picked up four books for just magic. I ended up with fourteen and I didn't have anything to carry them in so I made use of my hands and jaw. I proceeded to leave after checking them with Bragi, the God of Literature and librarian of Asgard. He was skeptical but allowed it as he was 'moved by attitude to learning'. Well, if he decides to harm Atreus my attitude to learning will bite him in the ass. I was at the threshold of the library when Heimdall faced me, pushing himself off the wall and took a step toward me. "Now, what do you think you're doing?"

"Taking books to read until Atre - Loki, comes back from his lessons." I lied.

He picks the book on top of the pile, one of the volumes on poison, specifically on their styles. "Interesting, one could think, this would be useful for using against us."

"Then one would be a moron. I was ill for two weeks and I'm in enemy territory. One might think she was poisoned." I bit back, he scoffed and I knew he caught the lie, of course he did.

"Liar. Besides, if we wanted you dead, we wouldn't have to do it discreetly. You could be put to the sword or burned at the stake, like the witch you are." I recognised the emphasis, and I saw the jab at Freyr. It boiled my blood. "Do you want to know what I think?"

"No, but you're going to say it anyway."

"I think you're here to dismantle, to cause chaos. You are here to protect the brat, that is certain, despite the terrible job you're doing." I winced at the jab, "but I also think your traitor of a mother wants my home reduced to rubble, and you're here to help. That I will not allow!" And with that, he kicked my shin, and I plus the books toppled onto the floor. Despite the pain and burn that rippled throughout my body, I laughed. At this point, I only had one card up my sleeve, his ego.

"You really think I'd try something like that with you watching. I'm the Goddess of Logic, for Ymir' sake. I know not to do anything this explicit, even though causing chaos for you sounds like a lot of fun." I smirked at him and his eyes flashed, "I got them because I was genuinely curious to see if I was poisoned, I also wanted to try my best to help with the patrols I'm forced on with you. If I have a knowledge of the creatures outside the walls, I can maybe help keep new Midgard protected. They are my people as well." He looked like he had his entire perception changed and then reverted immediately.

"Maybe you do have a brain, or perhaps not. These won't be of much use to you though, the Einherjar protect them from the creatures outside, I only get involved in inter- fighting that causes death." He rolled his eyes like the entire thing was pointless and meaningless to him. It wasn't surprising. He wasn't like my mother or Freyr, who actually cared about mortals. He was one who believed the gods were above all. A true racist bigot. "I'll allow whatever this really is, for now. See how useful you may become." The ire in his words made me uncomfortable. He turned on his heel before turning his head to his shoulder, I saw the glint of purple of his eyes, a shard of the real gemstone, "See you at dusk."

~

After picking up all of the books and walking to willow tree, my entire body ached. I never wanted to do this again, but I could think of no alternative. Well, there is no alternative apart from magic to keep them preserved. I may as well start practising then.

I searched into the books for anything pertaining to preservation. The sun was at its peak when I succeeded. I found it in a volume that looked like it was hanging on to the threads of it's spine, and definitely needed rebinding, but hopefully, if I succeed, it may last a little longer. The spell would only preserve something for a day, so I suppose I had to come here before midday for as long as I train. I thought of what I did when I used magic to heal, I felt the world around me, the earth under my knees, the wind that blew around me, the ripples that went through the pond, and finally the magic that resided within me. The moment I felt it, I knew something was different. Normally, there was just a spark, something that was small, barely there. Now, it felt like that spark had grown into a flame of what size I didn't know. It felt so far away. I tried pulling it to me, and some of it yielded to me. The rest, I could not reach. Hopefully, this was enough, I placed my hands on one of the books, "vard-veita." I chanted, letting my eyes close only slightly, I felt the flow of magic run through me like water in a stream, wind through a tree, and opened my eyes. Because I can't recognise magic, I have no idea if it actually worked, so I only have one way of finding it out. Dip it in the pond and see if it worked.

I picked up the book and opened it, so it was just the cover page being dipped, I don't want to ruin the entire thing. I may hate the Aesir and everything they stand for, but I'm not monstrous enough to destroy a perfectly good book, I also need the volume for practising magic while I'm here, there's that too. I dipped the cover into the pond, wincing as it entered. Please work, I begged to the magic that ran through every living thing. I pulled the book out of the water and felt the leather cover.

It was dry.

~

I immediately started screaming and dancing in pure ecstasy. I'd done something with my power, I wish someone, specifically my mother, could see this. I hope she would be proud of me. I then became conscious of how I'd look to others, despite how remote and away from the main city this was, and composed myself. Although I did start laughing at the thought of someone seeing the sight of me, the Goddess of Logic, daughter of the first Valkyrie queen, Freya, first person to knock the God of Foresight on his ass in over a century (probably), dancing and screaming like a child because she finally thinks she becomes useful. Ymir, I hope no one saw this.

I knelt back on the floor, preserved the rest, and returned to the book feeling drained. It didn't matter though, I had to continue. For Atreus, for my mother's approval once I returned. I thought of things my mother had done and remembered how once when fighting against me, after I had started to push her back, she had conjured a beam of energy so bright it had blinded me and she gained the advantage. I looked for that.

It wasn't in the first volume that contained the preservation spell, and after hours of searching for it, I found it in the third book. It didn't contain an incantation of any kind. It said that you had to feel for your power and imagine the beam in your hand. I did just that, I felt for my power and imagined the beam of energy. I started to feel my hands warm up, and I thought I'd be able to do it, that I'd have not just one, but two successes. I failed. All that happened was sparks started to appear, and then they fizzled out. The feeling of disappointment was familiar to me, and so was the feeling of exhaustion. I think it is probably best if I stopped, maybe looked into the history of Asgard and looked at fighting techniques to oppose the Aesir.

~

I did just that and by dusk I'd found out some useful information; I read that all sons of Odin (apart from Tyr as he was imprisoned) took part in pacifying the dwarven rebellion in Svartalfheim and that Heimdall was the one to brand a dwarf named, Durlin (one of the rebellion's leaders. This made me hate him more, knowing that he probably loved doing something so cruel. I didn't know much about the rebellion but what I did know is that the dwarves, a giant named Laufey, everyone who fought, were incredibly brave for fighting for their freedom and that Odin ensured that the spark of rebellion would always be quenched. It disgusted me how Heimdall was praised for such an act of cruelty in the text, so much so that I gagged. He also helped assist Tyr with the imprisonment of the hound of hell. The surprise that went through me was interesting. I couldn't believe he'd assist with such an honourable task. I suppose Garm threatened all realms, including Asgard, so the narcissistic piece of shit had no choice but to help defend his home.

I had exhausted myself by remembering Heimdall's fighting style from the initial fight, the day Atreus and I arrived here. I lost because I got cocky, because he had invoked a furious inferno that ran throughout my entire being and I wanted to see him on the floor, wipe off his perfect exterior and show to everyone that I could take him down and show that he was weak, and I was good enough to defeat this God who immediately turned up his nose at Atreus and I because of our blood, the realm we were born in, because he was eternally loyal to a monster who had ordered the death of my father, the imprisonment and violation of my mother, and the deaths of millions. Heimdall was a walking shit stain, and I wanted him to suffer, most of all, for the threat he posed to Atreus and for his violation of my mind. I worked tirelessly at figuring out how to fight him best, I figured that having the range to give him a good shot to the heart would be preferable, but I trained with my sword anyways, just in case.

When the sun started to set and the moon started to rise, I was dripping with sweat, and threads of my hair had started falling out of the braid. In my reflection, I saw a mess. I suppose that was a good thing. It showed I'd done something. I groaned when I realised I had to walk to the wall and, in the end, would be by the side of the worst person to ever walk the nine realms. That may be an over exaggeration since his father existed, but he's definitely in my top five of the worst people to ever exist.

The walk to the wall was refreshing. The sweat started to disappear off my body from the wind that blew through me and I welcomed the breeze, I was walking through fields to get there so I focused on the birds chirping, the feel of the blades of grass that tickled my ankles. It grounded me, which was useful for the conflict and rage I would feel inside me the moment I saw the protector of Asgard.

The silence I felt on the platform was different to the silence of my walk. That was serene, this was filled with so much resentment and the tension was so thick that I would have less trouble gutting a hare for dinner than cutting through the tension that was between us. I welcomed getting of the platform and having more than a five meter distance from him, I moved away as fast as I could and went to my perch on the wall. I actually had an objective for today that wasn't ignore Heimdall, it was protect the humans from the creatures because the Einherjar are pathetic. I equipped my bow and focused my vision onto the illustrious Plains of Ida. I found my mark of a nightmare that was getting far too close for my liking, I knocked an arrow onto the string of my bow, drew it back to my cheek, and loosed it. It didn't surprise me that it hit the nightmare, killing it, but I was happy either way. I'd done something, something good. I've felt so useless while being here as Atreus was clearly being split from me it was nice to do something which might help, which did make me wonder, why was Odin keeping me here? It clearly wasn't out of any benevolence, he's a monster after all, it wasn't to use me, I wasn't as malleable as Atreus could be; I was my mother's daughter after all, there had to be something more here. He couldn't kill me as that would weaken his relationship with Atreus, he could send me home, which was a perfectly decent option. I was a potential distraction for Atreus, I was loyal to my mother. The fact that he hasn't sent me home, gives me reason to think the likelihood of me actually returning is slim. So why accept me here in the first place? The fact that I didn't know made my head go fuzzy, there was a logical explanation for this and yet I couldn't see it, which meant I needed more facts.

The first few stars had entered the sky, and I'd eliminated countless creatures when my arrows started getting low, I didn't mind much. I knew I couldn't collect them because the likelihood of me being allowed out, then allowed back in, was low but thankfully, there were trees which I could collect sticks from, I had spare feathers in a bag on my belt, and I'd find the steel somewhere for arrowheads. If someone would actually sell to me, that would be awesome. "You do know we have Einherjar down there to protect them?" Heimdall whispered into my ear.

I froze, but eventually, I refocused my vision from the plains of grass down below to the plains of lavender that were his eyes, "I've seen the Einherjar fight. a kitten could do better."

Heimdall laughed at that. It took me a second to register, that he laughed. It was short, sweet, not sinister, not the ice cold laugh that sent blades of ice through my entire body. This was genuine, beautiful. I suppose it fit with the exterior of him, even if the inside was rotten and disgusting.

"Okay, waste your arrows. It doesn't affect that pathetic b-" he didn't get to finish his sentence because I wrapped my bow back around my body and punched him as hard as I can, that I may have broken one or more of my fingers. It was a shame I could only heal cuts. This would be a nuisance. The look on his face was worth it, though. His eyes flashed, and he gritted his golden teeth that I gritted my own at the sound of metal on metal. "What the hel was that for?"

"You insulted my people." And with that, the mocking laughter came, and I felt the ice. It was funny how this man could make me boil with rage and freeze with fear at the same time. Why did he have such an effect? he seemed to relax a little, then he delivered a swift pommel strike to my abdomen, making me keel over. He proceeded by kicking me to the floor and placing his foot on my chest. "I've killed your people, thousands of them, actually."

"And Ragnarok will be your retribution." I spit back, trying to get myself back on my feet, but am just met by more pressure on my chest.

"Not if the All-Father or I have anything to say about it." he snaps, and I let out a breathless laugh.

"It is prophecy, you can't ignore fate, you imbecile."

He placed more pressure and I let out a hoarse groan, "Prophecies don't always come true, although, I suppose you wouldn't know enough about them, considering you were isolated with no one but your traitorous, bitch of a mother."

Before he insulted my mother, I felt defeated. He was right, I didn't know enough. Then, I didn't care. He would not sully her name. I used every morsel of my strength to get him off me, which made him lose his balance, and it was my turn to bring him to the floor. I ended up with my knee on his chest and my face hovering over his. "Do not insult her."

"Hypocrite, you insult my father, my King, you threaten my people, and yet you call us the aggressors? Now, where is the logic in that?" He smirked, and I punched it off his face, drilling my fist into his nose. Blood printed itself onto my fist.

"Your father had my father killed, he destroyed my mother, he started the war . You fucking deserve it." Tears had started leaking from my eyes and had landed on his own cheeks, I saw the hypocrisy in the insulting parents part, I immediately realised that he was just a son, a follower of his king, I hated to say it, but in that way I was the same. The rest was bullshit, they were the aggressors, they started the war and watched as it raged on from the comfort of Gladsheim. They live in peace while the remaining Vanir live in poverty, they suffered the most. The Aesir deserve Ragnarok.

"One, your mother was a traitor, and you are my enemy. Therefore, I don't really care. You deserve the suffering." I gritted my teeth, "Two, which war? My father started a lot of wars and has never lost one." The boast wasn't missed. How was he proud of having a tyrannical conqueror as a father?

"She refused to give Baldur's curse to Odin! How is that traitorous? I'd call it a fucking blessing."

"Either way, still an enemy."

"Then give her exile, kill her, not curses that destroyed her." Maybe if my mother had died, it would be some solace, and I wouldn't have had to have been born. I was a mistake, I had to be, I was weak, naive, I couldn't get most things right. In every way, I was a failure, and after the incident with the raiders, the person who looked like my mother had made sure to remind me of it. I rejoiced when she came back to me, brought back by Atreus and the desire for true vengeance.

*~*~*

For a singular moment, I felt sympathetic, I saw from her expression what her mind must always be screaming. She was entirely alone for her entire life. Her father killed. Her mother was destroyed and distant, with no allies and no friends. From what I knew, it was just a small sphere of nature for just over a century. Then I remembered I didn't care about her at all, Frigg deserved everything she got, so did the Vanir people, they or Freyr seemed charming at first, Freyr reminded me of a nicer version of me, maybe what I could've been if I didn't have this curse or gift, to know what people thought at all times made me see the evil of everyone, how treacherous they could be, but it was also a gift, I could protect my home, erase the threats before they lie there way out of it to someone ignorant. Freyr seemed good at first. He genuinely came out of diplomacy to help us so the war wouldn't start and peace could be achieved. I was wrong. Apparently, it was just self-preservation. His magic didn't do anything, and the famines we had just got worse. He helped almost cripple us so the Vanir could actually stand a chance. It was pathetic really, considering the moment the marriage ended, and Frigg was gone, they had nothing, and they lost easily. Thor and I didn't even break a sweat. It was a shame I was sent back to allow Thor to finish the job, seeing the fear on their faces as we swept through the ranks, picking them off one by one, was one that made me feel so happy. It was one of the few things Thor and I actually agreed on. War was one of the best things we'd experienced. The only war I truly feared was Ragnarok's. It is the end of all that would mean this place, the All-Father, it would all be gone. Everything good with this world would be erased.

"Do you know how many of my people you're uncle left to starve during our famine? Do you know how many of our soldiers died due to your ever so precious mother in the initial attack?" She looked so dumbfounded it was almost adorable, "No? Okay, I'll tell you," I paused, "thousands died to the starvation, mortals like the ones you claim to care for. Then, it was countless in the war."

"It was the same on both sides."

"Don't care. Frigg, your entire family and country deserved everything they got." She stared into my eyes for a moment. They were filled with emerald fire. It was exhilarating if I was being honest. Fun. Her pupils started moving in thought and I wished I could no what's going on in that mind, so much so that I tried to enter again only to be met with silence, a wall that I couldn't pierce through. It was a direct contrast to what it was like as a child. I had had no control whatsoever, I used to start crying whenever I was in crowded spaces as they'd all be blending together. They were all so trivial as well, what they'd do, how they were going to do it, sometimes it would be their own conflicts, and then some would be monstrous. I saw them for who they all were, and it hurt me, not just physically but emotionally. So much so that I hated them, so much so that whenever someone good would come along, I'd be waiting for when they'd think something horrible or just do it. Most of the time, I wasn't disappointed. She started gritting her teeth as I tried to push past. She didn't break, though. I hated to admit it, but she was strong, physically and mentally. Her knee on my chest hurt, and so did her punches and then her will. It was made of something stronger than steel.

"And so will yours." And with that, she stood up and got off me. I was quite grateful for it. The air going back through my chest was refreshing.

The remainder of the night was silence, I guarded with the normal, extreme, vigilance, and I made sure to keep an eye on the Vanir. None of the creatures started wandering near the Midgardian settlement, so she was left without anything to do. Even without it, she seemed in her element up here more than on the ground. It wasn't lost on me that that would be because of her uncontrollable, unbeknownst to her, power to control the wind. It was disgusting to see her look like she belonged in a place she didn't. She doesn't belong anywhere in Asgard. Despite how much I hated her, I was intrigued by her. She was the only one who could block me out. She was intelligent and resourceful when she had the information necessary, powerful. I wanted to see her at her most powerful though, when I found her last night, it was a struggle to get past the wind she was unleashing, and I wanted to know what she was capable of. If I did know, I could use it to strategise a plan with the All-Father to take her down and find out what could be used to fully destroy her. Although, I do believe it's somewhere in her mind, she hid something deep down and from what I've heard from the brat's discussions with my good-for-nothing niece he didn't know much of her apart from what we know. She has had a life which, even when she left the stave, we didn't know, and me breaking through her shield would be the key.

When we returned to the Great Lodge I was prepared to go brief the All-Father as I do normally, but I remained for a moment to see (Y/n) pet Gulltoppr and thank him for holding the both of us, which the noble beast responded with a purr. I rolled my eyes, "Go to Baldur's chambers." I made sure not to say they were her's, they weren't they were my brother's, whether he was dead or not, it didn't matter. It was an insult to him that she was even allowed to sleep in them and wear his wife's clothing. I don't even know how Nanna hasn't crossed paths with her yet. Oh wait, yes, I do. Ever since Baldur's death, she's refused to leave her home. I know Forseti checks on her from time to time, I don't care enough about her to check. It was disappointing, though, despite her being a Goddess of Peace, she was still fierce, now that was gone. "Jealous?"

I scoffed, "Please, I trained him, tamed him. The day I become jealous of any connection you two have, Ragnarok will have come." She puts her hands up in surrender and said goodbye to my mount, he responded by licking her. She laughed and smiled, and I had to appreciate the purity of the moment. I didn't care if it was her, I didn't get them much, so I appreciated the small scenario. I went to leave, and before I entered the lodge, she called for me, and I turned around, "What?"

"I would like to apologise." I couldn't help but scoff again. Why was I allowing this folly? I had to debrief the All-Father about her, about tonight, just everything I found out that was known. I went to leave, but I was met with the bringing down of her mental shield, and I was halted in my tracks. This most definitely was a development. I couldn't see much. The rest was buried to the back of her mind, and It would take time to search, time in which she could easily put up her shield and block me out again. I could see her sincerity though, that I was right about her hypocrisies and that she was grateful for me teaching her that war was not black and white, it was complicated, both sides doing it for the good of the other and it was just the innate horribleness of people with a conscience. I didn't particularly know how to approach this. All I knew was that there was a positive effect to earlier as I'd clearly helped her. It was strange, I'd not known her long, and I hated her more than literally anyone else, and yet this made me feel something. I could see that she wanted to be better, to not be such a failure, and I a sort of kinship with her. She may not be good, or sincere, no one but the All-Father was, and yet she wanted to be, truly wanted to be. In that moment, I knew what that feeling was, one that I couldn't explain. It was some small sliver of hope that people could be better. I reminded myself of her allegiances and crushed that hope. She could not be truly good as she went against the All-Father, the only good person there was.

She brought the wall back up and I felt myself being pushed out, "We'll see." I muttered and I left to my father's office.

"Is that a bruise I see forming?" These were the first things I heard as I started my descent down the steps, "It's nothing." I had no idea why I decided not to tell him that she threw a hook to my jaw, chipping one of my teeth, and then punched me in the nose. It was probably still those weird little feelings she'd been able to coax out. I'd call this my forgiveness, then be done with them. "Sure." I reached the bottom, and I walked to him, "So, what have you found?"

"She let me in her head." His eye widened, and he gestured for me to explain, "We had an argument about the war, how she was a hypocrite in certain respects, and for once she listened. She allowed me into her head to see that she wanted to give a genuine apology."

"Did you see anything else?"

"No, the rest was buried so far deep it would've taken time to search through. Time I didn't have as she could shut me out in a second's notice."

He gave a slight nod, "This is good." I didn't tell him about the preposterous explanation of how she thought the war with her people wasn't straight forward, it was incredibly clear. The All-Father was right in what he did, conquering Vanaheim was deserved. After what Freyr did, the people that died, every death, every agony they ever experienced, was deserved. I may not have liked them, I may not have known them, but it is my duty, the reason for my entire being, to protect the land and the people in it. Only in death will I be separated from this. I failed them when I cleared Freyr. Watching him burn was one of the best moments of my life.

"I also watched her train today." I remembered watching from my place on the wall, when she did the preservation spell, her funny little movements afterwards, her failure at creating energy. I remembered watching her study me specifically, I made sure to look at the pages she was reading; I saw her negative expression at branding Durlin, I smiled at the memory of when I'd burned the dwarf and then how she'd looked shocked at when I helped with Garm. I didn't understand it, I'd made my stance on being the protector of the realm quite clear, I was doing my duty when I begged to be relieved of my duties so I could fight, it was the one thing I'd ever asked the All-Father for, he was skeptical as I'd just been bestowed Gjallarhorn but allowed me to help. Then there was her ruthless efficiency with a blade that I also noticed was to fight against me. Her movements were awe-inspiring. Every stroke, every parry, every block was precise, strong, and swift. I had to resist the urge to watch for longer as I had to keep to my duties, I also had wanted to try and copy her movements, fight back against what she had started to perfect. I had to keep to my duties, but I made a mental note to practice more, considering she was the first to hurt me in over a century. I repeated all the facts, not my opinions, to him, and then I gave my evaluation, "I believe she should be sent home or killed. She's powerful, and she doesn't even know it, we don't know what she'll be like if she starts realising how powerful she is."

"Did I ask for your opinion?" I was taken a back, I believed my reasoning was good. She was a threat to this realm. How could he keep her here, especially alive? My dream of her burning this realm to the ground replayed in my head, and I winced.

"No, All-Father."

He hummed, "Continue to keep an eye on her. I'm sending you both to Svartalfheim tomorrow. The dwarves aren't meeting the quotas I've set. Remind them of the war, do what you want with them, just make sure they start working how I want them to."

"Why not send Thor?" The question was insubordinate, I had realised immediately, but I was protector of the realm, not his executioner.

"Thor's sloppy. He goes for the kill and doesn't care about what he breaks. You, you tortured in the wars before, and you were beautiful at it. You made examples of them. I'd like you to start doing that again, with tensions rising." I couldn't help but smile, I had missed this, and I couldn't wait. There were two questions to be answered, though, "Why is she coming with me? And who will protect the wall while I'm gone?"

"For the first question, I'm not stupid, and I have eyes and ears everywhere. She hurt you. I promised punishment, and here it is. Remind her of how weak she truly is, make it impossible for her to defend them. You can threaten the kid if you'd like, even follow through if you want, I don't care as long as he's functioning enough to find the mask pieces." The ecstatic feeling running through me made me feel a little dizzy, I don't think things could get better than this. I'd actually been given the go-ahead to torment the boy, not like I'd been doing it already, but this would be special. I mean, I've been planning to kill him because of how much of a threat he is, but I also know I'd have trouble with it, considering he's under my father's protection. "For the second question, we're in a time of peace right now, so it's not entirely necessary for anyone to be. Just in case, I've placed two Einherjar soldiers for every metre of the wall across it." I've seen the Einherjar fight. A kitten could do a better job. I gave a slight smile at the memory. She was right, though. They were pathetic in comparison to literally anything else. They were only formidable in population. It worried me that it wouldn't be enough.

"Could you either double them or place the Valkyries up there, too?" I was concerned, especially after the arrival of those two half-breeds. The tensions were rising, this was shown by the fact that I had to go to Svartalfheim, that we had to send more soldiers to the other realms, especially Vanaheim.

"I'll see what I can do, is that all?"

"Yes All-Father, thank you."

"You're dismissed." I bowed as I normally did, perfect, respectful. It was what I was meant to be to the people who deserved it, and he was the only one.

[glapplebloom]

Since it’s been a while since the Polls were done...

Death Battle had a Champion's Poll and the winners were Discord Vs Bill Cipher and the long requested Cole Vs Alex. But there were other matches. And since I am a Champion (it is only $5 a month), I voted for who I wanted to see as well. And I did not vote for those two matches. So which did I vote for and what were my thoughts of the other matches?

Captain America Vs Kamen Rider Ichigo

I do think Captain America does need a return match. His match was an early research and we can do a much better job now. Imagine what sort of feats we could find now with a dedicated researcher on the job. As for Kamen Rider Ichigo, I do not know a lot about Kamen Rider. I know a lot of people enjoy the series and it would be cool to see their favorite series get the Death Battle treatment.

Among Us Vs Fall Guys

The idea is such a fun one that I am still surprised it didn't win. It would have been pretty interesting to figure out the research behind this. Though I don't think we'll be doing this in the future unless one of the two sponsors us or if the polls return and this gets back on and wins.

Kyle Rayner Vs Simon the Digger

I'm a researcher of Green Lantern and Gurren Lagann is an excellent series. I would definitely be the researcher in this match thanks to my previous Lantern work. What shocked me was the fact this didn't win either considering all the support I've seen of this match.

Ori Vs the Knight

I never played either, but the idea looks fun. Two indie platformers of varying styles and ideologies. It would have probably looked really good too.

Finn and Jake Vs Mordecai and Rigby

This is the match I voted for. For me, this is one of the big Cartoon Vs Cartoon fights. Adventure Time and Regular Show are sort of sister series. They have a unique style, wacky adventures and expect you to take things at face value. They even crossed over in comics. So having the two duos fight each other is one a long time coming. I get the feeling regardless of it losing, we'll be seeing this fight sometime in the future.

Kratos Vs Asura

Kratos is another one who could use a comeback. It was a Season 1 fight after all. And since then, he's in a whole new territory dealing with a completely different pantheon and new abilities. Meanwhile Asura is an obscure choice but an excellent one for Death Battle. His game is basically Quicktime City so we can see all sorts of feats thanks to them being more visual than gameplay. This could be a great fight.

Steve Vs Emmet

In case you couldn't tell, I enjoy Lego and other Interlocking Bricks. So I would have been glad to see Emmet enter. And Steve makes a lot of sense since Minecraft has a big history with Lego. If we could get Edbound to make this into an animation for Death Battle I think it would be better than a 3D one.

King Ghidorah Vs Deathwing (WoW)

It makes sense for Godzilla’s greatest rival (depending on who you ask) to be in Death Battle. But I don’t know about World of Warcraft to give a good idea on how this fight could be. But giant lizards fighting each other should be a no brainer.

Illidan (WoW) Vs Xiao (Genshin Impact)

Remember when I said I don’t know much about World of Warcraft? Same for Genshin Impact. All I know is they beat Sonic in the Fan Polls at the Game Awards and apparently a small 1000 year old girl is joked about being spare food in the same way Team Four Star’s Goku treats Icarus in the Cooler movie. But just because I don’t know either doesn’t mean it can’t be a great Death Battle. Look at Sauron and the Lich King.

Spy Vs Agent 47

So both of my votes were the last ones listed. Weird. Anyway, Team Fortress 2 is a great series and I wish it won their only match so far. And I think Spy could do it. Agent 47 is most impressive, but I think Spy could give him a run for his money and even win. But I haven’t played Hitman so this is likely biased. But man, I got to get back into playing TF2.

And those are my thoughts on the poll choices. I could reveal exactly how close my votes got to winning, but I don’t think it’s fair for those who don’t know how their votes are. Not to mention Death Battle didn’t reveal the results for a reason. And who am I to break that reason?

[pxperhearts]

@interlacedfates asked: ❛❛ I know the stakes now. ❜❜ (Lloyd @ Kratos )

"Do you?” The disbelief hung heavy on Kratos’s tone. Lloyd and Genis had caught up to the rest of the Chosen’s party and explained everything that occurred since leaving their village, from events at the ranch to the Desian base. 

Desian base indeed.

But every time Kratos looked at Lloyd, he could only see Anna’s grave. Part of him wanted to take Lloyd aside and explain who he was, but if he did then he would have to explain Cruxis and the Journey of Regeneration, and it would all come snowballing out, and could he admit to his son the sins he had committed? 

His voice had a hard time working every time he thought about it, like the Cruxis Crystal had cut that off too.

“Then perhaps you’ll stop treating the Chosen’s Journey of Regeneration like a field trip. Have you practiced today?”

[screechthemighty]

Okay so I should be in bed but I want to share a Thought I had on my third (3rd) play-through of God of War I’ve done in under a year.

So I’m doing a brief “let’s find some goodies as long as I’m here” detour the first time you enter the mountain, and I find a lore marker (it’s “The Great Mountain” for anyone who wants to check their codex) describing the settlement of the mountain. This part in particular is of interest to me (emphasis added):

Here they would make their hearth and fortress--to live free of prophecy, and know only themselves and each other. The mountain became a shelter of the outcast and the artist, for Jotnar and new friends made. And to this beacon many more souls made pilgrimage. Even now, as we shelter from the storm, let none forget the beckoning spirit of the mountain that was.

Now, lines later in the game draw parallels between Faye and Bergelmir the Beloved--mention of her choosing Kratos and Atreus over her quest for direction action against the Aesir, and I believe Mimir makes a direct comparison as well but I can’t remember. However, I think this lore marker also sets up foreshadowing as to Faye’s true intentions in keeping the prophecy secret and just living out her life with her family. What they’re describing with the mountain sounds an awful lot like creatiing an idyllic little pocket of peace for your outcast Greek deity husband and tiny demigod son (I mean...idyllic aside from everyone’s respective traumas but there’s only so much she can do about that).

And lest anyone think that I’m just reaching because I favor the interpretation of Faye’s actions where she doesn’t tell the two of them about her past or the prophecy to spare the the baggage of those things for as long as possible...note this bit from Atreus’s commentary on the marker (again, emphasis added):

Sounds like the mountain used to be pretty amazing...Mom always did love artists.

In conclusion: Faye is very aware of her people’s history and chose to replicate the historically good parts--namely the parts where you flip off Odin simply by living your best life and creating a safe haven both for your own kind and for others who need that safety--rather than continue the cycle of obsessively worrying about fate and prophecy that has literally torn apart at least two realms. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

[wrestlingisfake]

Resurgence preview

It's been a year now since New Japan launched their US-based show, NJPW Strong. I'm sure the original plans involved running US tours with a mix of American regulars and visiting stars from the main Japanese roster. The pandemic, however, limited the scope of Strong, mainly featuring minor leagues on a closed set. It almost felt like a parallel universe with little relationship to the "real" NJPW. Now, finally, the brand gets to do a show in front of an actual crowd, and we get to see this concept the way it was meant to be seen.

The show airs live on NJPWworld (999 yen for one month--about $9.12 US) at 11pm EDT. Or, if you just cannot handle setting up your payment on a Japanese website, you can get the show on FITE.tv for $19.99 US. Both services should make the show available on-demand later, in case you want to wait until you're done watching Triplemania.

Lance Archer vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi - Archer is defending the IWGP United States champioship. The title was in limbo through most of 2020, as Jon Moxley was unable to schedule a defense in either New Japan or AEW. That changed in 2021, as thawing relations between the two promotions led to more Moxley title matches, until he lost the belt to Archer on July 21. Shortly before Archer's first defense on July 28, AEW aired a video of Tanahashi challenging the winner of that match.

This is Tana's first show outside of Japan since the pandemic began, and his first match in California in nearly three years. I'm not sure anyone expected him to be here, given that the New Japan of America operation has focused on building up North American talent rather than bringing in big stars from the home promotion. So this is a special treat for the live audience, above and beyond Archer coming in from AEW.

I expect a pretty straightforward match with Archer killing Tana with big power moves and Tana rallying for a big babyface comeback. In a vacuum I would think either man could end up with the belt. However, the real story to this match is that Tanahashi went out of his way to make a challenge for the US title, but not until after Jon Moxley lost it. So Moxley has accused Tana of ducking him, and it stands to reason that he'll confront the winner of this match to close the show. That feels like a formula for Tana vs. Mox for the title, maaaybe at the AEW pay-per-view on September 5. Everyone sure seems to hope that's where we're headed, so I don't think a lot of people will be pulling for Archer tonight.

Jay White vs. David Finlay - This is White's first defense of the NEVER openweight championship. It's also his first New Japan match since May, as the quarantine procedures for entering Japan have made travel pretty rough for the non-Japanese talent. As I recall, Finlay received this title shot because he pinned White back in March. Finlay hasn't been back in Japan since that tour. Both of these guys have been in Impact Wrestling as of late.

Originally, the idea behind White winning the NEVER title was to set up a match with Hiroshi Tanahashi at one of the Wrestle Grand Slam stadium shows that New Japan scheduled this summer. The aforementioned travel problems seem to have scuttled that, so now White is facing The Other Guy From FinJuice.

The biggest buzz I've heard surrounding this match is that Finlay appeared on Wrestling Observer Live to promote the show and ended up giving fans the impression that he wanted to go to NXT. I mean, Finlay could be fucking with us on that. But it's not a good sign when people are mainly interested in a match because they're looking for signs that one of the participants is fixing to leave the promotion. Not that it affects the finish, of course--Finlay could sign with NJPW for a million years, and he still wouldn't be booked to beat White for a title in 2021.

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Moose - This match kind of came out of nowhere. Ishii isn't exactly a top guy in New Japan but he's always right below that level, clobbering most of the roster and getting clobbered to set up new contenders. Most of the NJPW Strong roster would be underdogs against him. But then, Moose isn't on the Strong roster--he's coming over from Impact, where he's been pushed as a top heel for months. Moose is a 6-foot-5 big mean guy and Ishii is a 5-foot-7 big mean guy, so this should be an interesting contrast. It's easily the most interesting match on the show.

I'd like to see Moose win, since it'd be a slight upset and he could use the momentum for whatever he's doing next. But if he is gonna win, Ishii is going to convince you that he had to work his ass off to earn it. I'm looking forward to this.

Tom Lawlor & JR Kratos & Danny Limelight & Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs vs. Lio Rush & Chris Dickinson & Adrian Quest & Fred Yehi & Yuya Uemura - Lawlor is the NJPW Strong champion and his team is the New Japan version of "Team Filthy." The babyface team originally featured Brody King, but he was pulled from the card at the last minute due to "unforeseen circumstances", so Adrian Quest is substituting for him. That's a real tough break for the good guys.

There are several storylines at play here. Lio Rush stepped up as the next challenger for Lawlor's title, and they'll have that match at the August 16 tapings. Dickinson was kicked out of Team Filthy, and is currently aligned with Brody King's Violence Unlimited stable. Uemura had been working on the Japan roster as a Young Lion, but he's just begun his excursion so he has a chance to really express himself as a performer.

If Rush wasn't already positioned as Lawlor's next challenger, I might think this match could end with someone pinning Lawlor. As it is, though, it probably makes more sense for Team Filthy to win in a dominant fashion. Yehi and Quest are basically undercard scrubs, and Uemura just now graduated to that position. Rush and Dickinson aren't going to be able to carry so many weak links.

Juice Robinson vs. Hikuleo - Juice has spent most of 2021 teaming with David Finlay over on Impact, whereas Hikuleo has been wrestling on Strong and more recently on a few AEW shows. Given that Hikuleo is 6-foot-8 you'd expect him to squash everything in his path, but New Japan isn't afraid to have more established stars get the better of him. Whether Juice is one of those more established stars remains to be seen.

Juice biggest career highlight was winning the IWGP US title, and Hikuleo's was challenging for that title a few weeks ago. If one of them is going to be in the hunt for that belt, then winning this match should be step one. As much as I'd like to see Juice back in the chase, I get the feeling it'll be Hikuleo taking that role.

Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows vs. Jon Moxley & X - The Good Brothers (Gallows and Anderson) are the Impact Wrestling men's tag team champions, but their title is not at stake here. I think Moxley was originally booked to team with Syota Umino on this show, but travel restrictions prevented Umino from coming into LA. One way or another, Moxley will have a mystery partner that won't be revealed until the match begins.

The backstory is that Gallows and Anderson have been a thorn in Moxley's side every time he's tried to fight Kenny Omega, or really anybody in Omega's stable. With that in mind, the most logical partner would be Sami Callihan, who has a history with Moxley and unfinished business with Omega's group. People have been asking for a Moxley-Callihan reunion from the minute AEW and Impact started collaborating, and there's no reason it can't happen here. On the other hand, I wonder if that's something New Japan would do as a surprise, as opposed to advertising it ahead of time.

If Moxley's partner isn't Callihan, there's a serious risk that the live crowd will start chanting for Callihan and disrupt the match. So if they're going with someone else, it'd better be good. I suppose Eddie Kingston would be accepted, although again, why would that be something you do as a surprise? Personally, I'm all about Moxley and the cold, deadly eyes of Shooter Umino, so I know I'll be disappointed no matter what. :(

Anyway, it'd be stupid for Moxley's team to lose this match.

Rocky Romero & Fred Rosser & Wheeler Yuta vs. TJP & Clark Connors & Ren Narita - This is a pretty good sampling of the NJPW Strong midcard. Of this group, Romero has the most clout with the main New Japan roster. Rosser is still best known as WWE's Darren Young, the guy from the Nexus who looks exactly like John Cena. Yuta has been making waves on AEW, filling in for Trent Beretta with Orange Cassidy's group, so I guess he and Rocky are both Best Friends Twice Removed or something. TJP is a former WWE cruiserweight champion and Impact X division champion. Connors is one of the guys from the Gekiochi-kun ads--I think he's the one who snaps his fingers to teleport everybody. Ren Narita is the guy who used to wrestle Syota Umino all the time, but Syota is not on this show. :(

Alex Coughlin vs. Karl Fredericks - When Strong started, Coughlin, Fredericks, and Clark Connors were the three Young Lions from the LA Dojo who worked as prelim guys. Since then I believe Connors and Fredericks have "graduated," and Coughlin is still working on it. I'm pretty sure Fredericks is the one in the Gekiochi-kun ads that says "that's pretty cool." I don't remember what Coughlin does in those ads, so clearly he needs to get his ass in gear. Anyway, I guess Fredericks wins.

Bateman & Mysterioso & Barrett Brown vs. The DKC & Kevin Knight & Jordan Clearwater - This is scheduled as a dark match 30 minutes before the live stream begins. I've heard most of these names, but the only one I kinda know is Bateman from whatever goofy stable he's in at Ring of Honor. I dunno, I guess his side wins.

[greatseedling]

💍: Have they ever been engaged before? What broke it off if so?

More & More! Headcanons > > { anon u opened pandora’s box of drama }​ 

so quick history lesson because i feel like context is kinda necessary to parsing through this, especially since idk who you are, if you know tales of symphonia: martel was engaged towards the end of her life to a half-elven companion, yuan ka-fai, who’d travelled along with her and her brother but she passed away before they’d ever have an opportunity to marry. in her wake, mithos, kratos, and yuan couldn’t cope with her death and instead of accepting her death they keep her soul in stasis in a magic space-tree seed and spend 4000 years 1) literally breaking the world to keep her soul alive 2) building a system of oppression and genocide to feed their various alt plans, 3) create a religious system using her name, make her a fake goddess, and set a practice of human sacrifice to generate body offerings as a resurrection strategy for putting martel’s soul back in her body. her brother, fiance, and best friend are all caught up in their grief of martel (for 4000 years) to the point of enabling each other in this shit show. meanwhile martel is watching this the entire time. 

so thats what martel came into isola with!! memories of a love that was really real and true and beautiful, but after 4000 years of grief really sorta turned into something she couldn’t recognize as love anymore from him. like, he eventually stood up and tried to do something about the situation and try to come to terms with her death... and she appreciates that.

ok so what happened in isola: this all happened in 2018... so some details are fuzzy. as seen above, yuan’s got a lot of trauma regarding martel, and martel isn’t very good with acknowledging her own trauma... so things just sorta got messy. i remember martel found a letter he’d wrote to her (like... in her memory) where he had said something about loving her forever and that broke her? because considering how his love had manifested for 4000 years after her death, she could see that as real and that in the moment really sparked deep trauma in her. she’s had 4000+ years of loving yuan but at this point even she had to step back from her own feelings and consider if he could even love her anymore, or if this obsession was too great. in either case she didn’t feel like she was alive to him even tho she was forced to be alive here in spirale. she knew he had a lot of trauma and emotional issues gong on, but she didn’t know if she could help, or if her being alive in front of him would keep him from improving. it was really heartbreaking for her as someone who loves him so much. i remember she cried a lot. 

so martel dumped yuan because she didn’t know what to do, honestly. she sorta fell back on the idea that he can’t love her as he once had, that she’s just a source of pain and this is a wound she can’t help heal, and she ran away from the situation by telling him that he’ll find someone new, a new love, that he will some day cherish and by doing that maybe she’ll die enough for his mind and he can actually grieve? oof, it was a lot. she didn’t want to break up with him. that was never premeditated or even anything she wanted. in the moment, it was all just so scary. it was all highly impulsive for martel and she honestly took months after to become functional again because it was so intense and many times she considered going back on what she had done. anyways, now its 2021! i think she would struggle to talk about her breakup or anything about their love from 4000 years ago still without getting upset. he was her first love and she’ll always love him. but she has accepted their breakup, and hopes he gives someone the love they deserve and that he receives so much love in return.

i think she put her old engagement ring on a necklace in her bedroom somewhere??

[goron-king-darunia]

Annon-Guy: How different would the original Symphonia's story go if Emil/Ratatosk, Marta and Richter were part of the group back than, helping them against the Desians and Mithos?

Honestly, this is a really hard thing to answer. They existed during the Symphonia timeline, they just didn't participate in the main story. So we honestly have every reason to believe not much if anything would have changed except with the possibility of Ratatosk since, well, no one knew where to look for him at that time and I don't imagine Aster speed running that discovery since the only reason they started looking was because the climate was weird when the planet came back together all jumbled. If they had somehow stumbled upon Ratatosk their own way, either we would have gotten a redemption speedrun because Lloyd and Colette have plot armor and would have been able to keep him under control or we would have gotten some, like, devastating calamity way earlier because someone "important" would have died. Or they would have had to invent another underappreciated redshirt like Aster to take the bullet. I think if we saw DotNW's cast in Symphonia, we likely would have gotten mostly side-character reference and not much else because I think trying to involve them would not only have made the DotNW we got impossible (i.e. Marta couldn't have a reason to hate Colette if she was there with Colette when the tree went rampant. She would know how and why it happened. Emil would have to be the Real Emil Castagnier and it would remove some of the suspense and mystery from DotNW because if the changed appearance didn't give it away the unjustified hatred for Lloyd would because in non-game material I think we got to see the real Emil's journal and he made one last entry when the Blood Purge began and he seemed really confused that Lloyd, a guy he knew as a hero, would be terrorizing town. If DotNW had followed Real Emil, I think he would have been more confused and sad than angry after the blood purge. It would be more "Why would Lloyd attack Palmacosta and kill my parents? That doesn't make sense for such a hero. What made him change, and why did he attack MY parents?" Since Ratatosk/Emil didn't know Lloyd the way the Real Emil did, he had no framework for what a hero Lloyd was before. He has no attachment to the heroic image of Lloyd. That's part of why DotNW's Emil is so easily able to just hate Lloyd. He's not conflicted. He only knows Lloyd as "The person who killed my parents but everyone treats as a hero." and not "Lloyd, the former hero, who for some reason went out of his way to kill my parents." Richter I can't see as having a role in Symphonia 1 given how the half-elves are still either running human ranches and making everyone terrified or subjugated and exploited basement scientists under the thumb of Sybak Research Academy. If Richter had any role at all, it would probably be something akin to Kate's role. Helping the party but ultimately being a side character of little note. Which honestly would rob from his presence in DotNW or at least not add to it. Most people's favorite character from Symphonia isn't Kate or Chocolat or even Marble, even though they all have roles to play. Most people barely remember Virginia Sage is alive because she's so easy to miss and forget about. So anyone who did remember Richter, would probably be like "This guy is the villain now? Why? Why does this dude get the spotlight, he didn't do anything in the last game." Aster would probably end up being the same way. I doubt Aster would leave Richter all alone to go galavanting around Sylvarant with the heroes. And if he did, honestly he'd probably just end up being another Colette since they have similar sunny personalities and I doubt Symphonia would be able to do much with him since he doesn't have any special battle skills that would look cool and doesn't fill a role that Sheena, Zelos, or Regal aren't already fulfilling. Marta could theoretically fit but like I said it would get in the way of her character motivation in DotNW. But I'm not sure what she has that's unique that she could contribute since Raine is already a healer and the Vanguard isn't a thing yet, so a lot of her insight that was helpful in DotNW doesn't exist

yet. As a whole, I think putting the DotNW cast in Symphonia wouldn't work all that well because, well, it's not their story. Similar to how the Symphonia cast doesn't add much to the DotNW story because, again, it's mostly not their story. Now that doesn't mean it wouldn't have been AWESOME to see them interract. Richter as a broody young man getting carted around with his best bud Aster because he and Aster somehow have some special knowlege of, like, the history of Kharlan or something? That could be fun, but that requires a whole new thing added to the main story. Marta getting to join up because she knows a lot about the ancient history of the Sylvarant Dynasty? That could be neat. Emil being brought into the fold because as a native of a fishing village he's just, like, ridiculously good at fishing? That would be awesome. But these are all things that wouldn't necessarily be integral to the main game. Lloyd is the hero. He's just always right by virtue of optimism and plot armor. He has to be there. His dad is a smith and his other dad is an angel, so both those connections also help. Colette is necessary because she's Lloyd's motivation. She's sympathetic and gives the player someone to want to save. Her luck and power as the chosen and an angel and a pure maiden are all benefits to the party. Raine is a healer, is smart, and has extensive knowledge of ruins and can work most of the tech in the game. Her memory of the otherworldly gate is useful and contextualizes a gameplay element for the player. Genis is a best friend support type, a magic user, a half-elf, and sympathetic to Marble and later to Mithos. He not only affirms Lloyd's belief that everyone is worth saving and keeps Lloyd grounded and motivated but he's also useful for understanding the motivations of the bad guys. Sheena is a summoner, and the summon spirits are very important to the story and saving the world, but she also represents the anxieties of Tethe'alla, worried about the end of their prosperity. Zelos has power he never asked for, a testament to the broken system of Chosens and their purpose. He has connections as a political and spiritual leader as he has connections to the King and to the Pope. Regal has monetary connections, knows what it means to sacrifice, is unbelievably strong, but honestly, he's probably the least special person in the group. Presea knows her way around charms, sneaks the party into places they have to get to even before she regains her senses, and is basically living proof of why Mithos's misguided attempt to create a race of lifeless beings is stupid. Kratos has connections to basically everything, even if he's a betrayer, and is ultimately the reason Lloyd is even able to pact with Origin which is one of the final keys in the game. I feel like you could work fishing master Emil, historian Richter, scientist Aster, and distant heir to a dead dynasty Marta in to Symphonia, but a lot of Symphonia was written around the specific characters it needed for the story. So not only do I think it robs them of their rightful places as centerpieces of their own stories in DotNW, but it's also just trying to cram too much extra into Symphonia. Aster, Richter, and Colette being friends would be great though. (And Rilena too, honestly.) I think their personalities would play off Richter nicely and just... 3 blonds all dragging a grumpy redhead around and he'll never admit he likes it even though he absolutely does is, like, very wholesome. Marta, Colette, and Presea just being animal nerd geeks would be great too. Emil I'm not sure on because DotNW Emil isn't real Emil and IDK enough about what real Emil likes to know who he'd be friends with. But Ratatosk getting a defaut support system and getting to actually confront Mithos? Holy hell. That would be a game, man. But I don't think it could happen since the only reason Aster went looking for Ratatosk was because of the messed up climate and I'm not sure if Ratatosk could even be awake with the planet separated. But boy howdy that would be interesting. So while I

don't think there is any one answer and while I don't think it's entirely possible to put the DotNW cast we know and love into Symphonia without changing a lot, it IS fun to think about. But I honestly think it would not only make the first game too crowded and messy but would take away some of how special it was to meet Richter, Emil, Ratatosk, Marta and the rest of the DotNW cast in DotNW. Besides, it sucked enough to see Genis have to struggle with fighting against a fellow half-elf. Imagine teen angst Richter having to do it too.

[yggdrasil-mith0s]

Tales of Symphonia is one of the most common answers I get when I ask "What was your first Tales of game?"

It's usually followed by "I didn't finish it my first time" or "I finished it but kind of forgot about it and didn't realize how good the story was."

Most of those people fell in love with the Tales of series through a different game than Symphonia even though Symphonia was their first Tales of game.

While this is okay, a lot of them also state that Symphonia is one of their favorite games in the series.

I have a theory on this and I want to lay it out. So... I will. Here is why I think Symphonia was a lot of people's first Tales game but wasnt the one that made them love the series.

First off, age. Destiny and Eternia (Tales of Destiny 2 in NA) were the only western releases before Symphonia. Destiny was released in 1998 and a lot of people weren't quite old enough to fully play through it all grasp the seriousness of the game and story. Those that were old enough probably weren't too excited about the gameplay and battle system which was mostly turn base at that time. It seemed weird, a little stiff, and a bit clunky at times. A lot of people didnt like that and the challenge it brought. It was also the first in the series (second ever) to reach the west. It had no fanbase and the internet wasn't exactly there like it is now.

Tales of Destiny II came out Seltember 10, 2001. That's right. One day before the Twin Towers fell, Tales of Destiny II was released.

Okay, I have to stop. It's Eternia. I hate they called it Destiny 2 in the west. Lol. I am going to say Eternia from now on.

Tales of Eternia had almost no good advertising for it's western release and the status of 9/11 brought about some weird thing where people only remember the towers and not much else going on. That being said, Eternia wasn't all that great and there were other things to be hyped about.

Namco thought that naming it Tales of Destiny II would be enough advertising since Destiny did pretty good in the west. The only problem is... they literally didn't do almost any advertising. They kind of just threw it out there to the west with minimal effort. A big mistake in my opinion but it sold enough to try the western market at least one more time.

Now it's on to Symphonia' release!!!

So here is the main part to my theory on why a lot of people begin with Symphonia but never finish or it takes a different game to love the series. This whole theory is more based on people 32ish and under.

It's because the beginning of Symphonianis bright, vibrant, and childish. I think people started it expecting some awesome adventure with a darker undertone than what we got in the first hour or the game. It takes a long time to get to the boss in the fire temple. There is one fight with humans. After that you fight bunnies and birds. Yep. You're supposed to be on a big adventure to regenerate the world and you fight bunnies, birds, and snakes at the start lol.

Also, your protagonists are children with two adults. Raine does make the situation better with her history enthusiasm but Kratos is kind of boring tbh. The cast is kind of dull at the start. They are immature (naturally) and fight bunnies lol. I digress when it comes to their decisions with the start to an otherwise epic, monumental game.

Symphonia was released in North Amarica July 13, 2004. Also, Final Fantasy was dominating the JRPG market and FFX was released a year prior and FF X came out just before 2002 and that's is arguably one of it's best games, mainly among FF/JRPG newbies. FF X-2 entering NA during December the same year (2004). Final Fantasy XI was kind of a disaster but it was there as well. Crystal Chronicles was a Final Fantasy game released in 2004 that was a multiplayer and kind of a 3D battle system (in a weird, "step outside the circle and you will die" kind of way).

There are a few other games that took attention away from Symphonia such as Drakengard. Drakengard got a bunch of advertisements that year. It was everywhere. I bought it abs remember thinking how amazing the gameplay and graphics were. It was one of those "test the limits, build an amazing story, and show off current gen capabilities" games.

Drakengard took up time. People had both saved to the memory card. A lot of people played both and sometimes never finished Symphonia or half assed paid attention.

Star Ocean: Till the End of Time was released. Star Ocean was a hit in the west and everyone waited forever for the new Star Ocean (TEOT). It finally came that year and Square Enix knew the west had been waiting forever for a new Star Ocean. Square Enix had the big name in the JRPG and did a beautiful advertising job.

All that being said, Tales of Symphonia is finally released. The gameplay and story were amazing. Word of mouth helped out. Couch co op existed and the 2 player option was actually fun. The second player felt way more involved and could move around during battle and at the time, a co op JRPG of that caliber didnt really exist. It drew some people in. Siblings could play an RPG together and it was actually a really good game with an amazing story and combat system.

Namco also advertised Symphonia and learned their lesson that name alone wasn't enough in the west. They had full page ads in Nintendo Power. They advertised it in EB Games (Electronic Boutique, AKA, Gamestop before Gamestop bought them). They actually advertised it very well. I think it was because Star Ocean advertisements were out there and that was their big competitor for that release (they had to beat that before they could step to FF even though SO and FF are both owned by SE).

So... I think the flurry of all these things created one of the best games of all times. However, all the other games surrounding it and what led up to it created a storm.

A storm that had almost everyone play it at some point.... but not realize it's a series. Having played it they eventually come across another Tales game and buy it or play it. Quickly they think "oh... that's a series? I played that. Oh... this looks good actually."

Thus.... we have a reason why so many people have ToS as their first Tales game, admit it's one of the best in the series, but then tell you it's not why they love the series lol.

Thanks for reading my essay. There is more but tbh I spent way too much time as it is and wrote out way too much. I highly doubt anyone is even going to read all this or be interested but here it is. My stupid, useless theory.

[darkhymns-fic]

When the Wind Shakes Us

There is not much of himself that Kratos wants to tell – for none of it is worth telling. But a brief reveal of his wings had been enough to lay himself bare to her.

Fandom: Tales of Symphonia Characters/Pairing: Kratos Aurion/Anna Irving Rating: PG Mirror Link: AO3 Notes: This is late! Written for @krannaweek Day 3: Free, and maybe Day 2: Angst? I guess both. This got away from me a bit. The general idea for this story came from this fic originally, and thought Kranna would fit it well! 

---

Kratos had gone to painstaking measures to keep much of himself hidden from Anna. She had known he was of Cruxis, even as she was confused as to why a human would join. But his age, his history, his own list of past grievances - these were things he would keep buried under lock and key until his life would finally end under violence (for surely there was no other way).

But he had not meant for her to see his wings.

When they had been ambushed on the roads, it had not been the typical Desians he had come to expect. Instead, angels with dark eyes and darker countenances came swooping down from the skies, their descent accompanied by wings that beat harshly in the air, like ravenous birds of prey. He had not realized Mithos would already be sending the worst after them.

Anna had fought some of them off with the help of a sword she had lifted off one of the Desians they felled earlier, but it had not been enough. She had been far across the field, the fight taking her away from him without his knowledge.

Kratos had grown desperate.

“Anna!” he shouted, using her name as if it were the only thing that mattered to him. And there were so many years of nothing mattering until he saw her in the cellblock, the Exsphere buried deep below her collarbone, taking away her time little by little.

His wings manifested from his back on instinct, flying across the ground to cut an angel down with an expert stroke. Another rushed near his right and he parried away their attempt to slice off his head. A rush of adrenaline he had not felt since the night of Martel's death, trying to find a ray of hope to everything before seeing Mithos' look of despair and feeling his promises break in half.

Anna was watching him with wide eyes, once quiet settled over them both, bodies and feathers decorating the forest floor. The night wind cut through his clothes with a chill, lifted Anna's burnished brown hair. It made the blue light from his wings waver, carrying motes of light around them, like the strangest of fireflies.

"Anna, I-"

"You're hurt," she said to him swiftly, her voice quiet, eyes finally leaving his wings to land on his forearm. Only then did he notice the cut, made by an angel's spear. The material was torn, leaving a red streak that he could not feel, did not wish to feel.

"I will be fine," he stated, sheathing his sword and ready to cast first aid on himself. But she raised her hand, and something in her finality made him halt in mid-motion.

"Not here," she said, eyes darting behind them, into a copse of trees. "Just, not here."

Kratos had been the one to lead them for most of their journey, but now he followed behind Anna's back, confused, a bit unsettled. His wings finally dissipated, and he couldn't help but notice the way her eyes seemed to shine for a brief moment then, until it blended with the night.

A long walk, longer than anticipated, but eventually she stopped them near a hillside, the night sky turning into an impenetrable black, studded with stars. But so much less than before, he thought, the bitterness still running through him. When he had counted them, he felt he had left  a part of himself within each and every star, until he was left hollow. But meeting Anna made him question if that was the case.

From their gathered supplies, Anna took out bandages, then gestured Kratos to sit down. He blinked at the suggestion.

"There is no need. I can simply use my healing artes-" 

"Kratos, I don't ask for much," she said, once again interrupting him. "Now sit and let me help you."

Words built up in his throat, which he wisely pushed down with a swallow. Adjusting his scabbard, he sat on the ground before her.

He felt a pressure on his forearm, and only then adjusted to allow his nerves to feel again. A dull ache stemmed from that wound, followed by the touch of Anna's fingers before they would lift to wrap the bandage over his arm.

"...I did not know that you were a healer yourself," he found himself saying.

She scoffed. "Only for my little sisters when they would scrape a knee. Had to learn a lot for them. And-" A pause, one filled with pain. "And I guess it was good I learned anyway. The Desians would leave many prisoners injured at the ranch."

Words of comfort would always elude Kratos. 4000 years hadn't changed that. Yet still, he tried. "I am sorry."

She did not respond to that, continuing to tie up the bandage, to mop away the blood that had dripped down his arm and into the ground. Kratos was busy silently berating himself before she spoke again.

"May I see them?"

His heart stilled, his mind halted. The wind continued to rush through him. "I know they are not normal," he said, knowing what she meant. "It...is best that I don't."

Something tightened around his arm, pain immediately flaring up. "Gh!"

"Sorry," Anna said, fidgeting slightly. "I am just… just a bit frustrated."

He looked to her then. She was still holding onto him, eyes toward the small pool of blood on the ground. 

"I just don't understand why you won't share anything with me." 

Kratos looked down as well, his chest feeling tight.

"There is...so much that you do not tell me. I feel as if I am walking around with a shadow sometimes. A shadow who makes terrible coffee…"

"I thought I had been improving," he had to argue.

He saw the hint of a smile on her lips. "Maybe just a bit." She winked. "Could be better though."

But even her brief humor was not enough to stem the awkwardness, the unspoken feelings between them. Both on the edge on finally admitting something, anything, before retreating into the darkness that was familiar, if not comforting.

Kratos knew he was not helping matters.

“There is not much of me that is worthy to know,” he finally said, his voice low, the difficulty in speaking it much more than he expected. “My misdeeds have already been done. You do not need to share in my burdens-”

“That is not what I am asking you.”

Her voice was sharp, cutting through his melancholic rambles. The force of her tone was enough to pull his gaze back to her.

“I am asking you, - you, Kratos Aurion – to tell me who you are. I am not looking to correct anything, I am not even looking to help you. I am only wanting something simple. To know you.” A sigh. “Because how can I give my trust when one keeps so much from me?"

She took a shuddering breath. "Months I've been locked away. It hurt to simply breathe with this thing inside me. Then suddenly you show up, and… and I don't understand why still. I cannot understand you. I cannot understand what you see in me, out of everyone at the ranch."

Kratos felt her hands linger on his forearm, finally allowing himself to feel. It had been so long since he felt a touch such as this, so long.

"At least let me see you," she whispered. "Please show them to me."

In the world of Sylvarant, there were legends of angels, perfectly twisted to reflect Mithos' vision. The angels of Cruxis, messengers of the goddess Martel, represented salvation. Kratos worried. Is that how Anna was seeing him? Would he only keep perpetuating this lie as he always had for so many millennia?

Her hand was placed against his back, waiting. But her eyes were sharp. She had seen the wings, but it didn't mean she was blinded by their light.

“…I am not used to this much attention on them.” Kratos cleared his throat. “So, forgive me if I don’t summon them right away.”

Anna smirked. “I will not judge.”

Even with her dry humor, with her warm hands, Kratos hesitated. Soon, a thin line of azure, extending into fragments and curves, patterns within a night sky. The gleam of the Exsphere buried in her skin shone for a moment, catching the light of his wings before she adjusted her cloak around her neck.

She stared at him, at the wings from his back, a slipstream of mana that he could feel the wind rush against. It made him shiver a bit more. It was more vulnerable than he had imagined, for wasn’t this just another symbol of who he was? Betrayer, coward, jailer, weakling. The wings of the other angels from before were different, but they had once had wings like his own before they crystallized into something solid, pulling at their back, forever aching and writing inside them as tendons pulled and bones cracked. But it does not bother them for they cannot feel. He frowned, looking away.

Then Anna touched his right wing, fingers rushing right through it as easily as the wind.

He shivered. His breathing quickened. He widened his eyes.

Her hand pulled back. "I-I’m sorry. Did that… hurt you too?" For the first time since the ranch, Anna looked frightened. She was about to stand up. “This was stupid of me. I didn’t mean-”

He did not reach to grab her, even though he wished to. He had enough sense to hold out his hand to her, calming her down before she could go.

"No.." he said, his voice in awe. “Please stay.”

He had never felt like this, even when he had once been a mere human, fighting for what had once seemed so simple. To stop a war. To stop the constant suffering. It had all been so simple, but everything just kept going wrong, more wrong than he could imagine. Martel’s kindness met with betrayal, Mithos’ belief in others shattering before his eyes, Yuan’s cynicism only being repaid in the worst way imaginable. For years, Kratos had only known this, unable to even remember a time when things were different.

Her hand on his wings reminded him, transcended him.

His hand was hovering just over her lap. "I… I should not ask you this...but…" 

Kratos was a coward. This he knew intimately. But Anna read the request in his trailed off sentence. Could he be touched like this again?

With that, she moved closer, face nearer his, and rushed her hands over his wings again.

Her fingers brushed against the fine edge of the wingtip and Kratos felt something then. More than something. Of so many years locked inside his own prison, and her hands setting him free.

He was vulnerable, he was laid bare. It felt like a weight had left his back, leaving only Anna with him.

Anna, he thought, and could not stop his weakness. An arm reached out to embrace her around the waist, pulling her to him. All the while, her hand traced over his wings, feeling the contours, the pulse of his mana, the depth of his guilt.

He had lived for so very long. So, so long. But only tonight had he ever felt truly alive.

[demiigcds]

            HOLA !! HOLA !! HOLA !!  ayyyy my dudes. it’s me sun & i live in the cst time zone. ( t e x a s bby )  tbh. can i just tell you all how much i already adore each and every one of u, bc i do.  I READ Y’ALLS INTROS BEFORE I EVEN JOINED IM SUPER EXCITED SRSLY. well let’s get this party started !! i’m introducing my three kids because idk what self-control is lol!!  i suck and like to live life on the edge/unprepared so be ready for sloppy pages and a rlly bad intro.. like this and i’ll go to your messages to spam u with love. THANKS. 

CHOI HYUNJAE

[ NAM JOOHYUK, HE/HIM, CISMALE MUSE C] — [ CHOI HYUNJAE ] is a child of [ KRATOS ]with the power of [ ENHANCED STRENGTH ]. they’re [ TWENTY-FIVE ] and have been in nemean lion for [ TWELVE YEARS]. if you want to meet them, they’re usually around the building [ GOING ON MISSIONS AND EATING ]; you could also try [ TRAINING GROUND #1 ]

--- ABOUT/HISTORY.

jae is a super goofy guy who is pretty easy going (if your muse has been around for a while hmu !!)

if he isn’t on a mission it is likely he is either training other demigods @ training ground #1 or just around the building eating somewhere. he never gets full he can honestly just keep eating if you let him and his metabolism is ridiculous 

jae comes off as the stereotypical dumb jock, but he is super smart when you actually sit down and talk to him

pls someone talk nerdy to him he will love you

honestly kinda wanted to be a teacher, but he doubts his own intelligence, so he decided to do what he does best and train the newer and younger demigods. he didn’t think he was smart enough to teach the kids :’(((

very competitive whether it's sports, training, or even just a game of monopoly. ( he becomes another person) 

isn’t a hot head or anything but he is super strategic about EVERYTHING and really hates to lose. he goes from being a ray of sunshine to being uncomfortably quiet 

 recently he has been a little overprotective of his friends especially when going on missions considering the recent turn of events that have taken place

a gentle giant who is a little too strong for his own good

LEO

 [ KIM DOYOUNG, HE/HIM, CISMALE ] — [ LEO ] is a daemon of [ CIRCE ] with the power of [ ILLUSION MANIPULATION, REFLECTION, AND AWARENESS ]. they’ve been alive for [ FIVE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS ]. if you want to meet them, they’re usually around [ THE LIBRARY ].

--- ABOUT

leo is a daemon of circe and when asked if he wanted to keep his memories or forget them he chose to remember. but BOY WAS THAT THE DUMBEST SHIT E V E R !!

leo was previously named  yi sejin, and was a scholar during the josen era, that’s probably why he is obsessed with the library. he had never seen so many books in his life he feels like he is in hEAVEN

 when he isn’t having to guard demigods during their missions that is where he is.

enjoys working under circe but hates having to watch over all these demigods, HONESTLY, LEO IS THE EMBODIMENT OF A GRUMPY OLD MAN

HE LISTENS TO OLD TRADITIONAL KOREAN MUSIC AND THINKS TODAYS BOPS ARE ABOMINATIONS TO MUSIC.

“ BACK IN MY DAY ... “

really bad at socializing and tbh he has two moods: (1) judging you, (2) awkward

tries to avoid the demigods unless he has work with them because he prefers not to interact with them.

he thinks 99.9% of them are too rowdy/annoying and would rather be reading in the library

SNARKY AND GRUMPY 24/7

hates everything and only KINDA likes his other daemons

loves coffee though. COFFEE AND BOOKS ARE THE ONLY THINGS KEEPING HIM GOING

SOPHIA PARK

[ PARK CHAEYOUNG ( ROSÉ ) , SHE/HER, CISFEMALE ] — [ SOPHIA PARK] is a child of [ APHRODITE ] with the power of [ CHARMSPEAK AND AMOKINESIS ]. they’re [ TWENTY-TWO ] and have been in nemean lion for [ FOUR MONTHS ]. if you want to meet them, they’re usually around the building [ STIRRING UP TROUBLE AND SOCIALIZING ]; you could also try [ THE LOUNGE ]

--- ABOUT/HISTORY

the daughter of a famous rockstar . 

she is an actress so sophia is pretty famous, but now more so for being a wild child rather than her actual talents

came to nl after causing some drama and her pr teams advised her to take a break from acting

luckily she has gone majority of her life without any monsters catching her scent and that is why she doesn’t take the missions or the monsters all that seriously.

sophia has been using her powers all her life as a way to get what she wants but she had no idea she was using them all along, she thought she was just great at being persuasive bUT NAH

is bored out of her mind at nl at the moment especially since she is used to being so busy with work sO SHE IS CAUSING TROUBLE LEFT AND RIGHT TO  KEEP HERSELF ENTERTAINED

flirty and playful she is interested in someone new almost every week and enjoys the idea of love until she is bored and is on to the next

always trying to catch the latest parties at the lounge, BECAUSE SHE IS THE LIFE OF THE PARTY OK

avoids training ; that’s gross and she isn’t willing to sweat ( unless the trainer is cute then maybe ) 

okay she is a mESS but if she actually enjoys ur presence she is RIDE OR DIE

like that person looked at you fUNNY??  THAT IS NOT OKAY SO HERE IS THE PLAN TO RUIN THEIR LIFE AS THEY   K  N  O  W   I  T 

is the best sugar buddy ok. that’s the only way she knows how to express her feelings. so if she actually likes you better be ready to be drowning in gifts and random offers of money

[thetygre]

30 Day Monster Challenge 2 - Day #23: Favorite Bad Movie Monster

Alright, so most of these movies aren’t really all that bad; they’re just kind of ‘meh’. But they would have been a lot worse without these cool and/or goofy monsters.

1.       Jabberwocky (Alice in Wonderland 2010)

I am prepared to disclose that Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland was not horrible, but 60% of that opinion stems from the Jabberwocky. (The remaining 40%is 30% the other monster designs and 10% lesbian subtext.) The Jabberwocky has always been my favorite part of the Alice mythos (surprise surprise), and not to sound petty, but I have dropped Alice movies just for not including the brilling beast. Burton’s Jabberwocky might not be my favorite, but it has a lot going for it. The way they treat it is basically as Wonderland’s Tarrasque; a living WMD, a legendary kaiju, the ur-monster in a world teeming with dangerous and crazy creatures. The way it wakes up is even a direct nod to Chernabog from Fantasia; they are literally equating this thing to the Devil.

Second off; Christopher Lee.

Finally, when the Jabberwocky meets Alice to fight, he says this thing about meeting his ‘old foe’, ‘the vorpal one’, in battle again. It is made explicitly clear that he is talking about the vorpal blade, not Alice. And that just… I don’t want to say that that changes the entire movie, but yeah, it kind of does. The implications here are that the vorpal blade and the Jabberwocky have fought each other countless time before in the past. The history of Wonderland is just the history of a dragon and a magic sword fighting. Is the vorpal blade sentient? How many times have these two fought? This kind of transforms everything about the setting the movie has established for the last hour and a half. It’s just so filled with so much potential to me.

2.       Torgo (Manos: The Hands of Fate)

Y’know, when you’re in a dark place, you have to find your own light. A source of motivation, something you can cling to to pull you through to the other side. Maybe that’s a dream, a goal at the end of the tunnel, or maybe it’s a hero, someone you can look up to. I’m not saying that Torgo is a hero, but he inspires me. There are weeks at work where I just don’t want to get out of bed in the morning. I come home at night to an empty room and fall asleep alone. It gets hard, is what I’m saying. But you know who never stopped trying, even though he hated his job and was lonely too?

Torgo. That’s who.

Everyday Torgo gets up, throws on his blazer and hat, and he goes out there and busses a haunted motel for a boss he hates. But he does it, every day. And if Torgo can do it, you can too. So you’ve got to get out there and be the best damn lackey you can. You’ve got put in the work to make it to tomorrow. And when the good times roll in and come shining down on you, you take a minute to remember the man who helped you get here. Take a minute to remember Torgo, looking down on you from Cloud No. 9, shedding a tear.

3.       Radu (Seventh Son)

The Last Apprentice series is actually a pretty cool (and grim) series of dark fantasy/horror young adult novels, kind of like junior’s first Solomon Kane. The Seventh Son movie based on the series has piss-all to do with it, and its only redeeming features are some cool monster designs and Jeff Bridges. Of those cool monster designs, the stand-out for me is Radua aka Muslim Dragon Kratos. He’s one of our villain witches chief thugs, and is unnecessarily cool for a side-character. He’s got this whole Nosferatu Zodd code of honor thing, and wields these two chain blades and probably could have been the villain in his own movie.

Now that alone would have been a neat detail, but then he can turn into what I honestly consider one of the more interesting dragons in recent cinema. I talked before about how one archetype of dragons was of being these unholy, scavenger type wilderness monsters, and that’s kind of the vibe I get from Radu’s dragon form. It’s all lanky and feral looking. It has too many limbs, and it walks around like it doesn’t know how. It’s another unnecessarily cool design for such a generic movie, and it’s definitely worth checking out.

4.       Krakensaurus (Jack the Giant Slayer)

I don’t want to be mean and discount Jack the Giant Slayer as ‘discount Ray Harryhausen’, but thems is the breaks, as the saying goes. The movie is kind of charming in how earnestly it plays to being a 1960s fantasy movie, with princesses in pink dresses and warlocks with goatees and a rhyming leprechaun. The movies stop-motion monsters don’t really live up to industry standards, though. But I can’t sit here and lie and say that I don’t have a special fondness for the sea monster at the end. The movie’s penultimate scene sees our heroes trying to escape the warlock’s castle, so the villain summons a two-headed giant (or ettin, if you know your monsters) which looks suspiciously like one of Ray Harryhausen’s cyclopes. Trapped in a sea cave, the rhyming leprechaun trapped in a bottle (roll with it) summons a sea monster to deal with the problem.

Sometimes it’s the little things in life, like watching two weird looking monsters fight to the death. Our sea monster is a blue-green mixture of kraken and allosaurus, and I’m pretty sure its toy had more detailing than the actual moving model. When this guy showed up on the screen, six year old me was hype enough to punch through a wall. I spent the next week drawing pictures of him so I wouldn’t forget him. This movie has 100% more sea monsters and singing leprechauns than The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, and that almost makes up for its deficit skeleton warriors.

5.       Queen of the Lair (She Creature 2001)

Stan Winston was on the helm for this little lady’s monster design, and it shows. A mermaid queen, it’s hard to tell if her monster form is her real shape or just something she can morph into. Even her basic mermaid form is pretty interesting; the split tails remind me of sirens or tritons. Her monster shape, though, is pure Stan Winston gold. There’s more than a little bit of the xenomorph queen in there, between the crest and the fangs. Someone threw it into a blender with a sea serpent and a viper fish and what comes out is the most badass mermaid to ever slink across cinema. She rips people’s heads off, her tail is covered with bone spikes, and she can sing a siren song to summon up her mermaid swarm. Oh, and psychic impregnation powers. That part’s kind of important.

6.       She Creature (She Creature 1956)

Aforementioned sea monster queen was part of a series of horror films based on old b-movies, so this is the original She Creature. Even today, this is one of my favorite designs from the 1950s. Paul Blaisdell might just be the king of B-movie monster suits, and belongs up there with Ray Harryhausen in the great monster hall of fame. The she creature looks like the sum product of an orc, a lobster, and a scorpionfish. It’s a shame you only see her in monochrome, because her color scheme is a startling mix of green and pink. What I find most fascinating is the concept that this is supposed to represent some parallel evolutionary stage of humanity. This is supposed to be a different version of Homo sapiens that never left the sea. Stan Winston’s mermaid queen is great, but I would still love to see an updated and more articulate version of this design.

7.       Vampire Spawn (Van Helsing)

This raises so many questions. So the crux of Van Helsing is that Dracula needs Frankenstein’s monster to power a force-field that will allow his swarms of vampire spawn to survive past infancy. I bet you thought vampires reproduced by biting people, right? Well, apparently they also have egg-sacs. Just, massive, Aliens style egg-sacs full of bat/human fetus monsters hungry for blood. It’s so stupid that I love it. These things are horrible and adorable; they remind me of chupacabras. I want one as a familiar, or at least statted up for a tabletop roleplaying game. Just really try to avoid thinking about the whole egg-sacs thing and all the implications that brings to vampire mythology.

8.       Emperor Tyrannus (Attack of the Super Monsters)

I don’t… I don’t think I have the strength to really get into Attack of the Super Monsters. When I watched it, liquor was involved. Describing it reads like a parody of Japanese media that involves anime, men in monster suits, and giant robots meant to sell collectible toys. But it’s real, and the realest shit ever is Emperor Tyrannus. Emperor Tyrannus is literally a giant tyrannosaurus rex who is the evil mastermind of an underground civilization of dinosaurs. The dinosaurs talk, because shut up, and Emperor Tyrannus in particular talks with a villain voice that I just can’t really convey through text. I think the closest I can get is saying that he sounds like someone doing an imitation of Brian Blessed while having a stroke. Emperor Tyrannus shoots laser beams from his eyes that mind control the other dinosaurs into being evil, and watches them fight a hermaphroditic cyborg superhero in a drill/airplane. Look, you need to see this for yourself. I’m not doing this justice. Get your friends, find the DVD, and strap in for a wild ride.

9.       Witch Tree (The Last Witch Hunter)

The Last Witch Hunter is another guilty pleasure move where Vin Diesel brings what I’m pretty sure is one of his D&D characters to a movie and somehow ropes Michael Cain and Elijah Wood into it with him. Our villains are, in a surprising twist, witches that cook up some fairly grotesque magic. One of the creatures meant to act as the witches’ guardians is a magical sentinel, and it just goes so hard and so dark for what amounts to a stick golem. It’s the fine details that make this construct stand out. The extra limbs let it move faster and have extra attacks, the jawbones around the front form a crude mouth, and the branch rib-cage makes it look like something that used to be alive instead of something that was just magically summoned. There’s so much work poured into this one monster, and it’s definitely a treat to see it at the end of the movie. Rethink your golems, kids; treat yourself better.

10.   Giant Leeches (Attack of the Giant Leeches)

I used to be pretty intensely leech-phobic when I was younger (and by younger, I mean a couple of years ago), but even then I knew the giant leeches were lame. Incredibly lame. Like, honestly kind of pathetic. I kind of like them out of a bizarre sense of pity. Giant leeches should scare me, but these guys are just goofy. A leech isn’t a hard design; it’s a tube with a sucker on each end. But I am almost convinced that the person who designed these monsters had never actually seen a leech, or possibly even a worm. But the movie still treats them with all the dignity and awe of the Creature of the Black Lagoon. There are prolonged sequences of these guys swimming underwater, floating around like hungry garbage bags. These things are not, nor were they ever, leeches; they are some kind of aquatic octopus or confused anemone. That’s why they need our love, our protection; because they’re too stupid to survive by themselves.

[blandmemoirs]

Ode to Fury

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This song has been incredibly relevant in my mind as of late. Playing on an almost loop. Obviously, a song themed on an unending anger and how to live with it would be relevant to my psyche. But I think it has been made more important in my listening habits as I took the time to learn the lore of Kratos through hours of YouTube walkthroughs of the God of War games and my own personal play through of God of War 2 on the PlayStation 2. The character has had my interest for several years before my recent deep dive into his history. I've always had a base level understanding of Kratos and his story. I had just never made the time to fully explore the depth of his pain and anger. That is, until the most recent God of War game came out. I let the initial release pass me by and took little interest since I didnt own a PS4 myself, but I caught glimpses of gameplay here and there through random YouTube encounters or looking over the shoulder of my peers watching gameplay in class. The game was beautiful, and I got glimpses of a genuinely raw story. Then Miracle of Sound dropped two songs about the game.

For more context, Miracle of Sound is my favorite musician. Simply because his songs all take great stories from movies or games I adore and condense them into an epic song that recites the themes and messages from the original material with outstanding beat and vocals. Much of his songs are in my personal playlist of favorites, particularly this one. When he makes a new song, I trust the source material is going to be good.

That said, two songs dedicated to God of War was enough to convince me. I listened, enjoyed, but didnt fully appreciate. I didnt fully understand the themes or message since I hadnt fully consumed the source. So, I picked my favorite lets player who did a walk through and dedicated myself to discovering this world and understanding it. I was enthralled and I fell in love with the characters and lore. When the game ended, I knew I needed more. So I bought a Kratos figure and acted out a few of my own stories as I introduced him to the world of the blandclan. I watched videos explaining the story behind the other games in the franchise, and eventually happened upon a copy of God of War 2 at a local game shop. I played it, beat it, and began to truly appreciate this series. I added the original Kratos to my toy collection as well.

Kratos is a man of tragedy. In a quest for power he was tricked into killing his own family so that he may lose his humanity and be a servant of the gods. But in doing so he turned his rage onto his betrayers and killed every single god in the Greek pantheon through his own ascension and fall from godhood. He killed his father, Zeus, a betrayer and manipulator. His rampage resulted in the total destruction of the Greek world. Surviving his own suicide attempt, he retreated to the realm of the Norse gods to live out the rest of his days in solitude, eventually starting a new life with a wife and son. But the fury is not quieted so easily. His pain was not satiated in the destruction of the gods, of the ones who betrayed and hurt him. In fact, he is haunted by his actions. Kratos still is full of anger and hatred. Because he hates himself, and he cannot destroy himself. He already tried that. His whole story is a tale of the everconsuming flame that is anger and when kept unchecked it will burn all it touches. Kratos must learn to control his rage, not to let it control him. He must learn to live with himself instead of merely killing all that hurts him.

As such, in the newest God of War, Kratos struggles to raise his naive son as a now single father. In the past merely being a distant hunter-gatherer occasionally teaching his son to fight and hunt, Kratos let his wife do much of the raising. Kratos does not want his son to be like him, and so he hides himself from his son. He lies about his son's heritage and is very stern in order to keep his "boy" from violence. But through the game Kratos is ultimately forced to come clean and tell his son all the hard truths of their life and lineage. Kratos is forced to once again remember his past and own his rage he kept buried for so long. Once Kratos allows himself to be honest with both himself and his boy, the two are able to repair their strained relationship and work as a true team. No longer afraid of his own rage, Kratos controls his fury and lets go of his pain.

Kratos is an angry character. He is quite literally too angry to die as proven several times in his life. This song is dedicated to that unending fire in the heart of the Ghost of Sparta. Full of grief, shame, blame, and woe, Kratos has attempted to lock up the anger inside him, but "the fury it never leaves". He has tried to run from it and hide it away, but he cannot. When he attempts to bury his anger he suffers from the "hunger" and attempts to "silence the cry" of his fury. It yearns to be free. It burns, and it will not be forgotten. He is angry. He will be angry. He will hurt. He must carry his pain. Yet, he fears his emotion because it may lead to judgement upon his son. He doesnt want his son to suffer the same fate he has. But try as he may, the fury it never leaves. So he must live with it. He must not run from it, he must contain it. He has to accept himself for who he is so he can raise his son to be better. He must own his anger and pain so he may teach his boy how to live with it.

The music itself is so captivating to listen to, from the chanting of the lyrics to the beating of drum to the scrapement of chains throughout, it is a powerful sound that conveys the many mixed feelings which guide Kratos' arc. He is suffering and unable to forgive himself, and so he only really knows anger, causing himself to further resent himself. It is no secret at this point I have at times found myself in a similar condition.

As such, this song serves as both an Ode to Kratos' Fury and a piece by which I can use to remind myself of my own powerful feelings I harbor. Through my ability to relate to Kratos' arc, I can search for my own peace and acceptance of myself. A search which may never end, but will allow me to live with myself easier. I love this song. I love the artist. I love the game. I love the character. I love the series. I love myself.

The fury it never leaves me, but I am living with it.

As Kratos says in the climax of the game, "the cycle ends here".