When @Kratos first pledged himself to @Ares , the God of War saw in him the perfect vessel: a Spartan whose fury eclipsed that of any mortal warrior. But Ares knew something deeper — Kratos’s strength was rooted not in savagery but in attachment. His loyalty to Sparta, his devotion to his brother, and most of all, his love for Lysandra and Calliope gave him limits Ares could not tolerate.
Ares believed that a warrior tied to love could never ascend to the ruthless potential the god desired. In his vision, Kratos was to be a weapon, not a man.
But forcing Kratos to abandon his family on his own terms would take years. Ares wanted a clean severing, something so traumatic that Kratos would be unmoored from all mortal bonds.
So he orchestrated the attack on the village — a brutal trap meant to remake Kratos.
But Ares did not work alone.
@Zeus is @Kratos ' father but Kratos himself does not know this. From the moment Kratos proved himself on the battlefield, Zeus recognized something he had long feared: the Spartan carried the same latent potential he once sensed in Deimos — the threat of the “Marked Warrior” prophecy. The prophecy had already led him to sanction the abduction of Deimos years earlier. Now, another son of Sparta had risen, stronger, angrier, and far more ambitious.
Zeus knew Kratos would one day rise against Olympus if left guided by mortal compassion. A man anchored by love could still resist divine manipulation.
A man broken by tragedy, however, could be controlled, used, or destroyed should he grow too powerful.
Thus, Zeus allowed — and some versions whisper he subtly encouraged — Ares’s scheme, believing that if Kratos’s humanity was shattered early, the prophecy’s danger might be defanged.
Ares sought a perfect warrior.
Zeus sought to neutralize a potential usurper.
Neither god fully trusted the other, yet their goals aligned in one moment:
Kratos had to be broken.
Ares created the trap.
Zeus allowed the Fates to remain silent.
And Kratos, blinded by rage and faith in the gods, carried out the unthinkable.
The result was catastrophic even beyond their intent.
Instead of forging a weapon they could wield, the two gods had unknowingly created something far more dangerous:
a man whose rage no longer had limits, but whose hatred had a divine focus.
The ashes fused to Kratos’s skin were supposed to mark a servant.
They instead birthed a symbol — a living curse that would one day return to end them both.
And so Ares and Zeus, in their attempt to shape fate, set in motion the very path that led Kratos to become the God-Killer.