Ares (God of War)

"Is THIS the best you can do, father? Send a broken mortal to defeat ME, the God of War?"

- Ares to Zeus before his battle with Kratos.

"I was trying to make you a great warrior."

- Ares' last words to Kratos. "You succeeded."

- Kratos before killing Ares.

Ares is the cruel and destructive god of war, and the titular main antagonist in God of War, and the secondary antagonist in the prequel game God of War: Ascension. It is later revealed in God of War II that Zeus is the father of protagonist Kratos, making him the half-brother of Ares.

Past
Ares is the son of the God of Lightning Zeus, and the Goddess of Marriage Hera. He was appointed by Zeus to be the God of War. At some point, Ares became power hungry and seeked to become the king of Mt. Olympus. However, Zeus forbid the Gods from waging any war against each other, because he did not want the mortals to be in danger. So Ares had to find an alternative. One day, Ares encountered the Furies; Megaera, Tisiphone, and Alecto. He allied with them in a plot to take over Mount Olympus and even had a relationship with their queen, Alecto, hoping to produce the perfect warrior for their plans as the result.

They did produce a son, which was Orkos. However Ares found Orkos to be a disappointment and abandoned him, letting the Furies use him as their oathkeeper. However, Orkos eventually found out about his parents plans. So he, along with his lover; the oracle, Aletheia, tried to warn Zeus about his parents' plan to overthrow Olympus. But Ares found out, and had the Furies intervene. The Furies managed to capture both Orkos and Aletheia, to which they ripped out Aletheia's eyes before they could inform Zeus. Orkos was to be punished by his mothers, and Aletheia was imprisoned, and guarded by the Siamese demigods; Pollux and Castor. During all of this, Ares was searching for a new warrior. A warrior that was filled with bloodshed, had a merciless nature, and an urge for battle, so Ares could make him an unstoppable force. Ares finally gets his wish, as he met a young boy with an urge for battle; Kratos.

Meeting Kratos
Ares met Kratos when the God of War, along with the Goddess of Wisdom and Ares' sister; Athena were sent to capture the "Marked Warrior" that an oracle predicted would bring an end to the rule of the gods and destroy Olympus. It was believed that Kratos' brother, Deimos, was the warrior that the prophecy spoke of due to the strange birthmarks on his body. Ares and Athena were sent to Sparta, where the God of War took Deimos to be imprisoned in the Domain of Death. To prevent them from taking his brother, Kratos attempted to attack Ares, but Ares easily struck him away, giving him a scar on his right eye. But before the god of war could finish him off, Athena told him to leave the boy and reminded him that they had only come for the Marked Warrior. Ares then left with Deimos, who was handed over to Thanatos.

Gaining the Servitude of Kratos
However, years later Kratos would swear his allegiances towards the God of War. After Kratos found that his Spartan army was no match for the barbarian forces and was at the mercy of the Barbarian King, he called out to Ares, offering him his life and servitude if the war god destroyed his enemies. He accepted and unleashed his powers to viciously destroy the barbarians, then gave Kratos the Blades of Chaos as a symbol of his servitude. As a servant of the god of war, he and his soldiers conquered much of Greece and slaughtered many people in their new master’s name. Ares decided that it was time to make his servant into the ultimate warrior of death and sent Kratos to a village that worshipped Athena. The Spartan and his warriors slaughtered the inhabitants and burned the place to the ground. Kratos himself stormed into Athena’s temple and began slaughtering everything inside, killing both his wife and daughter in his bloodrage, just as Ares had planned. After Kratos realized what had happened, Ares appeared within the flames and told the Spartan that with his wife and child gone, he could become Death itself. However Kratos was not as pleased and swore vengeance on Ares, becoming the Ghost of Sparta.

True Intentions
But Ares had greater plans for Kratos. He wanted to take over Mt. Olympus and planned to turn Kratos into a warrior powerful enough to bring down the very walls of Olympus. Kratos eventually found out about Ares' plans thanks to Ares' son, Orkos. But Kratos wanted nothing to do with it. Orkos also informed Kratos that he was connected to Ares through a Blood Oath and that the only way to end the blood oath was to kill his mothers; Megaera, Tisiphone, and Alecto. Shortly after Kratos killed the Furies, Orkos told Kratos that he was still connected to Ares. It was revealed that the Furies implanted Kratos' bloodoath onto Orkos in case they were killed. Orkos told Kratos that the only way to end the blood oath was to kill him. After Kratos killed Orkos, he was no longer connected to Ares with the blood oath. After giving a proper burial for his friend, Kratos set forth to get his revenge against the God of War.

With Kratos no longer bound to the God of War, Ares' plans were ruined.

Assault on Athens
Kratos endured 10 years of servitude in the name of the gods, battling monsters and Greece’s enemies in their name so as to earn redemption for his sins. In the 10th year, Ares decided to finally show up Athena, who had been his rival for many years. He led an army of undead warriors and monsters in an attack on Athens, the goddess’ sacred city. Because Zeus had forbidden war between the gods, Athena could not fight Ares herself. Instead she sent Kratos to defeat Ares, making this his final task in his quest for redemption. Fresh from defeating the Hydra, the Ghost of Sparta headed to Athens were he began fighting Ares’ army. Eventually Kratos came across the war god, easily fighting off Athens’ defenders. Though the desire for vengeance burned within him, the Ghost of Sparta did not make his presence known, knowing he could not defeat Ares. After the Oracle told the Ghost of Sparta about Pandora's Box, Kratos headed into the Desert of Lost Souls and found Cronos, who had the Temple of Pandora chained to his back. He navigated through the perilous temple and eventually found Pandora’s Box.

Showdown with Kratos
However back in Athens, Ares became aware of Kratos’ success and threw a cone shaped piece of rubble through the desert and into the temple, impaling the Ghost of Sparta to a wall and killing him. As he died, the war god had his harpies bring the box to him, but Ares did not count on Kratos managing to escape the Underworld. The Ghost of Sparta found the war god calling to his father Zeus, threatening to use the powers of Pandora’s Box against Olympus. Ares noticed Kratos, as he was impress that death couldn't hold him, but he didn't feel threatened as he called up to Zeus again, mocking him by sending a “broken mortal” to challenge him. However the Ghost of Sparta used some magic Zeus had given him to get the box out of Ares grasp and opened it.

The power gave Kratos the power he needed to fight the god of war and grew to giant size. He confronted Ares, stating that the monster he had created had returned to kill him. Ares replied that he had no idea what a true monster was and sprouted a set of bladed appendages form his back, before engaging Kratos in battle. However the Ghost of Sparta was able to match Ares in combat and the war god pulled him into a illusion world. There Kratos found himself back in the temple where this all had began, seeing illusion versions of himself attack his family. After Kratos defeated all of the illusion versions of himself, Ares pulled the Blades of Chaos from his former servant’s body and used them to kill the Ghost of Sparta’s family once more.

Disheartened, Kratos knelt as Ares prepared to deliver the final blow, but he suddenly noticed the large stone sword held by a statue of Athena. He dodged the attack and took up the sword, allowing him to finally defeat Ares, who tried to get Kratos to spare him, saying that he only wanted to make him a great warrior. The Ghost of Sparta simply told him, “You succeeded”, and drove the sword through Ares’ body. With that final blow, the war god finally died, resulting in a huge explosion emerging from Ares' body, and Athens just being barely intact. Shortly after Ares' death, Kratos became his successor as the God of War and was an official God of Olympus.

As a martyr
Despite that Ares was destroyed and Kratos took his place as the new God of War, there were still many followers towards the fallen Ares, believing that Kratos didn't deserve his title and his predecessor must be avenged. The Disciples of Ares still worship Ares and they seeked to revive their god. The followers of Ares seeked a powerful material known as Ambrosia, which has a nectar that possesses healing abilities, that apparently can revive the dead. However, Kratos managed to acquire the ambrosia before the disciples could. It is unknown what happened to the Disciples of Ares, though it is likely that Kratos had them killed.

After which, presumably, only one remained; the Dissenter. The Dissenter wanted revenge on Kratos for the death of their God of War. So he sent the Piraeus Lion to kill Kratos. After Kratos killed the monstrous lion, he went after the Dissenter, and killed him, presumably ending the reign and worship of the fallen God of War.

God of War II
Though Ares is not an antagonist in God of War II, he does make several cameo. One of them include a statue of Ares that can be seen while Kratos was in the Garden of the Gods.

While Kratos was confronting one of the Sisters of Fate; Atropos, Atropos grabbed Kratos and traveled back in time to when Kratos confronted Ares. Atropos was attempting to destroy the sword that Kratos used to kill Ares. If Atropos was successful, Ares would've killed Kratos' past self, resulting in Kratos getting killed him present time, and Ares would still be alive, trying to create more plans in an attempt to take over Mt. Olympus. Fortunately, Kratos managed to protect the sword and defeat Atropos, and Kratos' past self managed to kill the God of War.

God of War III
Despite Ares releasing a massive explosion after he died, it appears that his body is still intact and was placed in a tomb, the Tomb of Ares, to honor the fallen God of War.

Powers and Abilities
Being a god, Ares is extremely strong and powerful, able to use a great number of godly powers. His powers are best seen when he violently destroyed the barbarians. Ares can also also conjure powerful weapons including a warhammer that spews fire out the end and a flaming sword. It is presumed that he can shapeshift like the other gods, he can change his size, and can sprout a set of bladed appendages out of his back to give himself an advantage in combat. As a God Ares possesses immortality which makes him immune to nearly all forms of attack, and can only be killed by other Gods, Titans, or divine weapons and artifacts. Ares powers include creating illusions, telekinesis, pyrokinesis, teleportation, conjuring volcanic rocks to crush his foes, and can create a pocket dimension which he has complete control over.

Trivia

 * A statue of Ares is seen in the Garden of the Gods in God Of War II and in God Of War III, Kratos enters the Tomb of Ares on Mt. Olympus.
 * Ares originally design was going to be of a being that was “90% energy and 10% material” as stated by David Jaffe.
 * He was voiced by Steven Blum who later voiced Lucifer in the epic animated movie adaptation of the videogame Dante's Inferno which is based on the epic poem The Divine Comedy.
 * Ares was also the main antagonist of a game called Spartan: Total Warrior, a game that shared many similarities to God Of War.
 * If one thinks about it, Ares himself could be blamed for setting in motion the events of the following games in the God of War series.
 * Ares was never mentioned or seen in God of War: Chains of Olympus, but he made an appearance or, mentioned in all of the other God of War games.
 * Ares bears a small resemblance to Demise.
 * Ares is ranked 55th on IGN's Top 100 Video Game Villains.
 * It is possible that Ares is the fourth strongest Olympians after Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades being naturally affiliated with battle and war.