The Greek culture incorporated many gods and goddesses in their society, from god's of beauty to god's of the sea. In Greek mythology Kratos or Cratus was the embodiment of strength,might, and power. Kratos and his siblings were the winged guardians of Zeus, Angelique beings that were always acquiescent to his will.
The most famous legend involving Kratos was the battle for Olympus. Kratos, along with his siblings Nike (god of victory), Bia (goddess of force), and Zelus (god of rilvary), defended Mount Olympus along with Zeus from Typhon, the god monster. In the end Kratos and his siblings fight off Typhon and Zeus sends him back to Tartarus where he lies trapped under Mt.Etna.
Another famous story of Kratos is "Prometheus Bound." In the story of "Prometheus Bound," the titan Prometheus, credited with creation of human beings, stole fire from the gods and gave it's power to the humans, bringing warmth and light to their world. Now this action did not come without consequence, as the gods never intended for the humans to have the power of fire. A punishment had to fit the crime, as man's knowledge and power of fire is everlasting, so should Prometheus pain. So Zeus instructed Kratos to have the blacksmith god, Haphaestus, chain Prometheus to a mountain with adamant chains that will never break, and Prometheus must endure the fate of having his liver eaten by an Eagle every day, and regenerate every night.
http://www.theoi.com/Daimon/Kratos.html
http://gogreece.about.com/od/greekmythology/a/Kratos-The-Greek-God-Of-War.htm
http://www.gods-and-monsters.com/kratos-greek-mythology.html
http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/prometheus/prometheus.html
I think that this was a great example of a myth that is still present today. It makes a lot of sense to me for video game makers to use characters that are similar to myths/gods/goddesses. This actually I think helps make the game more entertaining and easier to relate to something they may have already heard of. Great topic.
ReplyDeleteYour blog has a great layout and was very interesting to me. Even though I haven't played many video games myself, my brother's always seemed to be interested in getting the new ones. As I watched them play, I remembered thinking how much it seemed like a big story that they were able to interact with. Between missions you had to listen to a storyline where the characters talked with others. I never realized some of them were based off mythology. Great topic!
ReplyDeleteKratos, why did you help the unjust gods bind me to the mountain? Am I alone in defying Zeus?
ReplyDelete"All is allowed the gods except to rule
Unruled; for none is free save Zeus alone."
--AESCHYLUS, Prometheus Bound
This was very interesting as it attests to how the powerful influence of mythological characters have survived the evolution of pop culture and are still a fairly large part of modern society today in one way or another. I love that everywhere you look it seems that there is some correlation, I guess I just did not ever really notice it before taking this class. As I see this pattern when it comes to video games and other aspects of pop culture, I begin to wonder... Were the creators really THAT interested in emulating mythological characters for their power and awesomeness.. or are they just unable to be entirely original these days? Really, why is there so much of this type of relation today? Interesting concept to think about.
ReplyDeleteJohn
ReplyDeleteInteresting! I'm not a gamer but I can see why people would get into it. You brought up an interesting thought. Kratos plays a different role in mythology than he does in the game. Could this be because it gives us a chance to continue the story? I think it might. Or it might be to let our imagination run wild!
I've never heard of the story Prometheus Bound. Pretty wild if you ask me. I would love to hear more of it. The gods punishment is a little extreme in my opinion, but the punishment is most likely representing the superior separation between man and God.
Wow I loved this. Your blog looks amazing and I learned a lot from it. I always wanted to play that game! And I never knew that Kratos led a war on the other gods, shows how much I know about the game! I also haven't heard of Prometheus Bound but I always found the name Prometheus fascinating. I think this was a great topic and I'm glad you chose it.
ReplyDeleteI was unfamiliar with Kratos, so I appreciate the blog and the information you present about him. Although he is a minor character in Greek myth he seems to have taken our modern fancy. It is interesting to me the way we attempt to reinvent ancient myth to suit our own purposes. In the case of many Greek myths, it seems that we utilize the narratives and characters for their symbolic value rather than their religious value. Perhaps this is true of Kratos being featured in the video game. Another use we make of myth - and especially Greek myth - is the co-opting of "cool" names. Maybe "Kratos" just sounded so tough that someone had to make a protagonist out of him. :)
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