| abstract
| - The main protagonist. Once the brutal captain of the Spartan army, Kratos made a deal with the God of War Ares to further his exploits—which took a tragic turn when the God tricked him into killing his own wife and child. Now branded the Ghost of Sparta as a mark showing his terrible deed, the rest of the series follows him in his quest for revenge against Ares, which later extends to the Gods of Olympus themselves.
* A Father to His Men: The Spartans.
* And they are loyal to him even in death itself.
* Anti-Hero: Definitely a Type V in the first and third Game. Though one can argue he may have pushed into Type IV at the end of the third game.
* Anti-Villain: Type I or II
* The Atoner
* Bald of Awesome
* Badass: So much, he gets a folder all for himself!
* Badass Beard
* Badass Boast:
* The Berserker
* Berserk Button: In God Of War III, he will kill those who mock his failures in life or those who insult Pandora.
* Blood Knight
* Byronic Hero: In the first and Third Game.
* Cain and Abel: With both Ares and Hercules.
* Chained by Fashion: And in Kratos's case, he uses them as a weapon!
* Character Development: He starts out as a man on a mission of revenge in the first game and then degenerates into a tried and true "Solve all problems by doing intense violence at them" pattern. At the end of the third game, we're told he's gained at least some compassion, even if he doesn't really deviate from that pattern.
* Combat Pragmatist: Kratos will use whatever means and dirty tricks to defeat his enemies. If he figures out an enemy's weakness, he'll gladly and quickly take advantage of it. Just ask all the cyclopes which eyes had been ripped out of their sockets, or Hercules, who he performed a sneak attack behind his back and then pinned him underneath a very heavy floor that Herc was going to use against him before beating him to death.
* Deal with the Devil: As a young Spartan commander, he was nearly defeated by the Barbarian King, until he promised to serve Ares in exchange for the strength to achieve victory. He turns on his master after Ares tricks him into killing his own family to remove his only "weakness".
* Defiant to the End:
* Determinator: Nothing will stand in his way for revenge. Might it be the Gods, the Sisters of Fate, the legions of Hades, the army of Rhodes, the Titans, monsters and "heroes" from Greece's all corners. Hell, not even Death itself can stop him. Literally, in Ghost of Sparta, Kratos actually KILLS Thanatos. And by Zeus saying he has become Death the Destroyer of Worlds, one can theorize Kratos has inherently become God of Death.
* Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Constantly.
* Dual-Wielding: The Blades of Chaos/Athena/Exile, the Claws of Hades, the Nemean Cestus and the Nemesis Whip.
* Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas
* Even Evil Has Loved Ones: His wife Lysandra and his daughter Callyope. In the comic is revealed that he even went on a dangerous quest (actually organized by the gods) in order to retrieve the mythical Ambrosia to cure her.
* Even Evil Has Standards: Kratos express much disgust at the torture the victims of the Olympians gets. Sure he ain't a saint himself, but at least he gives his victims a quick painless death.
* Although "quick" is a relative term, depending on just how much time the person has spent pissing him off before he finally gets his hands on them. Unless you're Helios, in which case you're screwed.
* Extreme Melee Revenge: Something of a specialty of his.
* Fatal Flaw: Considering it's a game based off of Greek Mythology, it's no surprise that he has one. Kratos' flaw is his inability to accept the consequences of his actions.
* Genius Bruiser: Can kick ass and solve puzzles and death traps.
* Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has a scar near his eye and on his belly.
* Heel Face Turn: In the third game, but after he had already screwed things up too many.
* Heel Realization
* Heroic Sacrifice
* It's All About Me: It's his Fatal Flaw. The climax of God of War 3 has him realize this and finally attempt to atone.
* Kick the Dog: Kratos does this a lot. Literally in the case of the ever-annoying Cerberus Pups.
* Kill the Gods: Like you wouldn't believe.
* Large Ham: "ZEEEUUUS! YOUR SON HAS RETURNED! I BRING THE DESTRUCTION OF OLYMPUUUS!!"
* Ghost of Sparta shows that even as a child, Kratos was an angry ham.
* Last of His Kind: Along with The Last Spartan.
* Like a Badass Out of Hell: The Realm of Hades can never hold him. He escaped from it four times.
* Lampshaded by both him and Hades.
* Lightning Bruiser
* Made of Iron: Even if he is no longer a God, he still can take punches that would kill the average person. Justified in that he is Zeus' son, making him a Demi-God.
* Mark of Shame: Cursed to bear the ashes of his murdered family forever, turning his skin white.
* His eye scar and tattoo as well. He gained this scar when he tried stopping Ares from taking Deimos, while the tattoo is a tribute to Deimos, who had a birth mark with the same shape. In other words, his whole body is a Mark of Shame!
* Meaningful Name: "Kratos" means "strength" or "power" in Greek.
* Mega Manning: Has a habit of taking weapons, items, and powers from defeated enemies.
* Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds: Well, given that he barely notices that his rampant acts of deicide result in natural disasters...
* Morality Pet: His daughter. In III, Pandora.
* My Greatest Failure: Three. Failing to save his little brother Deimos from being kidnapped, murdering his family by accident, and failing to save Pandora.
* Never My Fault: Large swathes of Kratos' Roaring Rampage of Revenge are a result of the gods legitimately punishing Kratos for his incredibly cruel actions and him taking this personally.
* No Indoor Voice
* Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: By opening Pandora's box, he released the evil inside, which possessed the Olympians and turned them all into bastards.
* Every time he slays a God, their sphere of influence goes haywire.
* One-Man Army: Very much so.
* Papa Wolf: Toward Pandora in the third game. In Chains of Olympus, he willingly sacrifices his last chance to be with Calliope in order to save her (and the rest of the world).
* Perpetual Scowler: He has two expressions. Angry Frown and Utter Rage.
* Person of Mass Destruction: When Deicide becomes a habitual thing, you officially qualify for this.
* Pet the Dog: Flashbacks to his life indicate that for all his brutality, Kratos was a loving family man who cared greatly for his family, specifically Lysandra and Calliope.
* Proud Warrior Race Guy
* Red Baron: The Ghost Of Sparta.
* Redemption Equals Death
* Refuge in Audacity
* Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Basically his entire objective.
* Say My Name: "AREEEEEEEEEEEES!!!"
* "ZEEEEEEEEEEEUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSS!!!!!"
* "ATHENAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
* "GAIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"
* ETCETERAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
* Self-Made Orphan: Killed his mother after she was turned into a monster, then killed his father Zeus.
* Shell-Shocked Veteran: He's constantly attacked by the memories of his campaigns through Greece and the only way he can cope with them is through battle. The reason why he allied with the Olympians in the first place was the hope that they would take them away. Since they promised they would forgive him, but not take the memories away if he killed Ares, makes Kratos pretty much pissed at them. At the third game, Zeus attempted to use his memories to break Kratos' will through a Mind Rape and almost succeded with it.
* Ship Tease: With Athena.
* Unstoppable Rage: All the damn time.
* Unwitting Pawn: For all his badassness, Kratos gets played for a fool a lot in the series. He only wises up at the very end and kills himself rather than allow Athena to become Greece's only goddess.
* Variable-Length Chain
* Villain Protagonist: In the second game Kratos cares almost nothing about anyone but himself, and leaves countless innocents to die in his wake. His quest for vengeance in the second and third games is tainted by the fact that he got what he deserved for trying to conquer the world when Zeus cast him into Hades.
* War God: Was this for a short time as a reward from the Olympians for defeating Ares, the last god of war. However, he lost his god status when Zeus fooled him to give up his god powers in exchange for the ability to use the Sword of Olympus against the Colossus of Rhodes.
* What Have I Become?
* Zeus/The Grave Digger answers in Ghost of Sparta with Death. The Destroyer of Worlds.
* Weapon of Choice: his trusty Blades of Chaos/Athena/Exile. Also many other Variable-Length Chain weapons during the third game.
* Other weapons include Spears, Large Broadswords, Gauntlets and at least once a Hammer.
* In the comic his weapon is a simple scimitar.
* World of Cardboard Speech:
* Worthy Opponent: Cronos calls him a "skilled warrior" while he tries to kill him.
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