I’m gonna sound crazy when I’m 40 and telling my son how God of War made me a better dad for him.

Kratos’ is clearly a sufferer of PTSD and the anxieties and fear he places on himself to not be a father like he had, but rather the father he was he’d had, while also fighting the self-fulfilling prophecy of becoming one’s father, is all such a very real fight.

His hatred for Gods, for fathers, stem from hisexperiences, which drives his general distrust and paranoia. Compounded with the fact his life has just been to be a pawn—a tool for a narcissist to wield for their own gain. Kratos has never had a life, at least one truly his own.

So ????? happens and he finds himself a new life. He has Faye, his wife who assumingely loves him unconditionally, and embraces him for all that he is and was. At some point, Faye saw the man Kratos COULD be, and showed him a life he didn’t know existed. They start a family

Kratos is so many of us. This person that hates who they were, and let it shape who they became. Someone somewhere told them they weren’t any good; they weren’t worth it; weren’t worthy of love and they believed it and carried it with them everywhere they went.

The scene where Kratos is told “Call yourself what you will: teacher, husband, father...you will always be a monster” is a thought I had months into parenthood and months after.

Kratos response of “I am your monster no longer” though is so goddamn empowering though

It’s the full embrace of oneself, right? It’s about moving on from living a life of regret management.

The entire mood and relationship between Kratos and Atreus shifts from that moment and that bond begins to actually healthily grow

God of War is such a phenomenal game inside and out, and the only game I’ve ever described as “perfect.”

But the way it handles PTSD, breaking the cycle of abuse, and grappling with the intense weight of parenting is where it is its most beautiful.

I think(?) this is everything I’ve been wanting to say for two-and-a-half-years.