This article's content is marked as Mature The page contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature pages are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page. |
“ | Ruthless? Barbaric? Heartless? That's Odin; In fact, we would do well to sit here in silence for the next few moments and reflect on Odin's capacity for cruelty. | „ |
~ Mimir speaking about Odin. |
Odin is an unseen antagonist in the 2018 God of War videogame, and is based on the mythical Norse figure of the same name. Similar to many of the Greek mythological figures from the same franchise, he is a far more sinister, barbaric, and cruel figure than his classic myth counterpart.
He became the overarching antagonist in the event of God of War (2018) replacing Zeus. Though he never appeared physically in the game, he was mentioned and referenced many times by various characters like Atreus, Freya, and Mimir as a cruel, barbaric, power-hungry and megalomaniacal deity and the one who responsible for many suffering in the 9 realms.
History
The Murder of Ymir and the Creation of Midgard
Odin was a descendant of the primordial Jötunn Ymir, the progenitor of all life. However, due to his power-hungry nature he felt that he and his brethren the Aesir are the ones who should be the supreme rulers of the nine realms. He along with his brothers Vili and Vé stood up against their creator and succeeded in killing Ymir and anyone else who stood in their path including almost every Jötunn (with the exceptions of Bergelmir and his wife).
After claiming his first victims, he took the place as the "Allfather" and began to create the realm of Midgard from Ymir's corpse together with his brothers.
As the Allfather
After killing Ymir and cementing his rule as the Allfather, Odin began to expand his family by marrying various women, hoping to gain powerful sons. He got Tyr from an unnamed wife, Thor from the giantess Fjörgyn, and many more. But at some points later Fjörgyn died from an unspecified cause leaving Odin heartbroken and felt lonely for many years.
Imprisoning Mimir
As Mimir's attempted betrayal toward Odin, the Allfather has imprisoned his adviser to a tree near the gateway of the 9 realms. He even took Mimir's left jeweled eye but disallowed anyone to harm him. While having Mimir's left eye, Odin searched for Brok and Sindri to build a statue of Thor with hidden compartment and forced to build the statue even though they declined.
Villains in family
- Ymir (Great-grandfather) †
- Búri (Grandfather)
- Borr (Father)
- Vili (Brother)
- Vé (Brother)
- Tyr's mother (Wife)
- Fjörgyn (wife) †
- Freya (Ex-wife)
- Týr (Son)
- Thor (Son)
- Baldur (Son) †
- Sif (Daughter-in-law)
- Magni (Grandson) †
- Modi (Grandson)†
- Thrud (Granddaughter)
Appearance
While he never appeared in the game, some murals in the Lost Page of Norse Myth describes him as an old man with a long beard and one eye. He wears a wide brimmed hat and carrying his spear Gungnir.
Personality
Odin is a cruel, heartless, sadistic and barbaric God, as proven by his having tortured Mimir and took his left eye to hidden within the Statue of Thor during his imprisonment every day. He ordered his son Thor to commit genocide against the giants for suspecting them being the ones behind Ragnarök, and he also betrayed his own great grandfather, the primordial Jötunn Ymir, at the beginning of all things under the self-righteous belief that he and the Aesir were bringing order to the realms. In reality, he and his brethren believed that they were superior and deserved to be as such.
Odin is also manipulative when he "befriended" with the Jötunn seeress, Gróa only to kill her and steal her library. He also manipulated Baldur that following Kratos and Atreus to Jötunheim would bring his cure for his immortality curse that Freya place on him assumed to be a lie.
According to Mimir, Odin is extremely paranoid toward anything that he considered a threat to his rule and the Aesir, similar to Zeus in the original trilogy, this included the Jötnar, the Vanir, and even his own son, Tyr. Mimir also stated that Odin is extremely clever, almost as clever as Odin believes himself to be, as he was able to figure out that Kratos and Atreus had an important role in the upcoming Ragnarök, possibly due to prophecy of Groa. It is also implied that he has an intense fear of Kratos as well, as he know nothing about him except for the fact that he's extremely powerful and having fought and killed one of his son, Baldur and his two grandsons, Magni and Modi in battle.
Powers and Abilities
Odin, as the king of the Aesir Gods, is extremely powerful, the most powerful among his kind.
- Immortality: As a God, Odin is immortal, having lived for millenia. Only divine weapons, other Gods, or extremely powerful beings like Fenrir and Surtr can harm or even kill him.
- Superhuman Strength: It is presumed that Odin have a tremendous amounts of superhuman strength as the King of Aesir Gods. It's believed that his strength far surpassed his sons like Baldur and Tyr. It is even possible that his strength also rivals and/or surpasses his strongest son Thor whom credited as the physically strongest Norse God. The only known beings to surpass his strength are Starkaðr, Surtr, and the colossal wolf Fenrir.
- Master Combatant: As one of the Norse Gods of war beside his son Tyr, he presumably excel in all forms of offensive and defensive combat abilities, armed and unarmed, having forged in centuries worth of battle training and experience.
- Elemental Manipulation: He presumably possesses this ability, given his kind affinities with the forces of nature, like his sons Baldur who possesses Photokinesis and Thor who possesses Electrokinesis.
- Magical Prowess: Odin is a very powerful and skilled sorcerer, being the only one of his kind to use magic. He mastered many forms of magic including the Vanir's magic like old magic and the art of Seiðr, from his former wife Freya, a highly efficient and experienced sorceress in her own rights. He's able to cast various powerful curse, enchanting Freya to never leave Midgard or harm others. The spell was too much for Freya to handle despite her own highly stated Vanir abilities.
- Summoning: As the Raven God, Odin is able to summon icy ravens to observe and gather information from across the realms.
- Nigh Omniscience: Odin is highly intelligent and clever, as even Mimir, the smartest being alive in all the Nine Realms, acknowledged his cleverness, saying that he is almost as clever as he believes himself to be. From having heard the prophecy of Ragnarok, he was able to figure out that Kratos and Atreus will play a very important part in it.
- Authority: as the ruler of the Norse gods Odin is an supreme monarch who is obeyed without question by many across his realms of influence, thus even without facing others directly he can command entire armies to do his will.
Trivia
- As the king of most of the Norse Gods, Odin is the Norse equivalent to Zeus who also the king of the Gods in his own realm. Both of them shares many similarities:
- Both are kings of their own realms and they ruled their respective domains with iron fist.
- Both are extremely paranoid toward anything that they considered a threat to their reign, even their own sons.
- Both killed their sons out of fear of being dethroned. Zeus killed Kratos after he was consumed by fear from Pandora's box and from the prophecy of the Marked Warrior, while Odin killed Tyr after he suspected him plotting with the giants to overthrow him.
- Both betrayed their own progenitors in a cruel way. Zeus imprisoned almost every Titans for eternity because of his desire to rule over the mortal world, while Odin killed his own great grandfather Ymir and almost his every Jötnar descendants under a self righteous belief that he and his brethren the Aesir are superior than every race in the 9 Realms and deserved to be such.
- Both imprisoned and tortured their former allies cruelly after they committed a little disloyalty towards them. Prometheus who was sentenced by Zeus to have his liver eaten by a giant bird for eternity after he gave the mortals the fire of Olympus and Mimir who was bound to a three and tortured everyday for 109 years by Odin after he tried to convince him to stop his cruel campaign against the Giants.
- Both destined to die at Kratos' and his families' hands. Zeus was destined to die at the hands of the Marked Warrior who is Kratos himself, while Odin is destined to die at the jaw of Fenrir who biologically is the grandson of Kratos.
Villains | ||
Protagonists Greek Era Titans Demigods The Furies Sisters of Fate Others Creatures God of War Comics Norse Era Elves Valkyries Berserkers Others Creatures |