Gullveig

Gullveig is an optional antagonist encountered in God of War, acting as the true villain of the "Anatomy of Hope" side-mission.

Biography
Long before the events of the modern era Gullveig was a witch who was slain and her remains scattered across the Lake of Nine, presumably to prevent her rising again - many years later a lone soul haunted the Lake and sought out mortals to find Gullveig's bones, promising them that she had the power to reunite them with dead loved ones.

It would happen that Kratos and Atreus would come across this lone spirit in their travels, Atreus was swayed by the spirit's promise and longed to speak with his dead mother again - Kratos was wary of trusting spirits but ultimately helped to gather Gullveig's bones out of respect for his son.

This would prove a near-fatal mistake for as soon as Gullveig's bones were brought back to the spirit she reanimated and mockingly told her would-be-victims she would fulfil her promise by reuniting them "in death" - she did not count on Atreus and Kratos fighting back, however, and was soon banished back to her grave.