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Zeus arena 3

Zeus' astral form

My sacrifice to save Zeus has brought me to a higher existence.

–Athena

The Astral Form is a state that can be taken on by a God under certain circumstances. So far, only Athena and Zeus have taken on this form.

It is to be noted that that "Astral Form" is not a recognized term in God of War, it's a term by the fandom being given to state of gods when they are interacting without a physical body. How a god is able to achieve this form can be different, In Zeus' case, after he was impaled by the Blade of Olympus, his soul was able to wield the evil, Fear, and take on this from against Kratos.[1] In Athena's case, she attained the state by selflessly sacrificing her life to save Zeus from Kratos' wrath, which allowed her to transcend to a state known as a "Higher Existence", which was stated as higher than everybody else[2] and she's able to appear and interact with Kratos without a physical body.

History[]

God of War III[]

After Kratos fell into the River Styx, he reunited with Athena who had transcended into an astral form after being killed by him, claiming her sacrifice to save Zeus at the end of God of War II, had somehow caused her to obtain a "higher form of existence" and thus allowed her not only to continue living without the restraints of her physical body but also to see truths where she did not before, such as choosing to help him in his quest for revenge by gifting him the Blades of Exile and guiding him towards the source of Zeus' strength as a means to destroy him: the Flame of Olympus.

During his fight with Zeus, Kratos was interrupted by Gaia returning with the intent to end the reign of Olympus by killing father and son together. However, despite fighting Zeus inside of the Titan, Kratos used the Blade of Olympus to impale Gaia in her heart, killing her and seemingly Zeus at the same time. However, after retrieiving the blade from his father's body, Kratos was suddenly ambushed by him taking on an incomplete astral form in a desperate attempt to slay the "Marker Warrior" by using the evil, Fear, to trap him inside of his own tormented mind.

Lucikly for Kratos, he had the power of Hope, obtained when he opened pandora's box for the first time to kill Ares, however this power was trapped & buried deep inside him because of the guilt & failures of his past. When the Spartan forgave himself for the death of his wife, child & Athena he got over his guilt and Pandora's voice of guidance helped him to finally realize the Power of Hope. When he escaped his mind and with the power of Hope in his hands, Kratos was able to free himself from Zeus' astral form and attack him, forcing it back into his body before he tossed his blades aside and charged at Zeus and pinned him to a rock as the evil of Fear left him. There, Kratos proceeded to beat Zeus to death by assaulting him over and over again until even the King of the Gods had finally taken too much damage and was finally killed in a final explosion that sent Greece into absolute chaos and thus ended the reign of the Olympians forever.

Left alone with nothing but the devastation he left in his wake, Kratos was approached by Athena who congratulated him for freeing mankind from the bondage of Olympus and cleansing them in chaos, claiming them to be ready to hear her message but Kratos claims her message to be useless due to the world standing in ruin. Regardless, Athena pleads with him to hand over the power he received from the box but Kratos claims the box was empty, to her disbelief. Realizing that Kratos first obtained the power during his fight to the death with Ares, she revealed the inside of him had always been the power of Hope trapped underneath the guilt of his past.

Kratos after realizing the destruction he had caused to world, he had sacrificed pandora in his need for vengeance he felt terrible for his actions. Also having a sense that maybe he could reunite with his family again,[3] and in way to spite Athena as well instead of giving the power to her he used the Blade of Olympus to commit suicide which caused the Power of Hope to release from his body and get into in the world. Embittered by his spiteful acts, Athena removes the blade and leaves Kratos to bleed out, claiming that he "disappointed her" before the Spartan is left to die in a pool of blood. However, due to being cursed to not die from his own hands & forever walk the Earth, Kratos crawled off the mountain and eventually headed north where he reached the realm of Scandinavia and began his new life.

God of War (2018)[]

During their quest, Atreus falls ill due to not knowing the truth of his parentage and thus requires Kratos to return home and retrieve the Blades of Chaos to obtain an ingredient from Helheim that Freya can use to save his life due to the realm's nature as a frozen hell making ice magic such as the Leviathan Axe useless and no other means of creating fire to survive the cold. On the boat ride back, Kratos is caught in a storm where Athena appears on the other end, silent but smiling at the Spartan.

Upon retrieving the blades from underneath the floorboard, Athena reappears in the doorway and mocks Kratos by claiming that despite how much time has passed or how far he travels, he can't change his ways by "pretending" to be what he isn't, such as a teacher, husband or father and that he is only a monster. He agrees with this statement but boldly claims that he is her monster no longer as he walks through her as Athena vanishes. According to the writers of God of War (2018) this Athena was just a Hallucination, she was only in his head, formed by the guilt of Kratos' past.[4] However, according to the director of the game, it's also possible that this Athena can be real or inside Kratos' head, or it can be both inside his head and real at the same time. Any of these situations are possible.[5] Her status is left unknown due to her having "not been heard of in many years" after Zeus' demise.

References[]

Trivia[]

  • The existence of the "higher existence" doesn't appear to be common knowledge among gods of any pantheon, due to the "requirement" for this ascension is for a god to commit a selfless act instead of a selfish one, which is rare among gods due to their powers and agelessness making them extremely arrogant and naturally psychopathic creatures. Only gods such as Athena and Tyr have shown some form of humanity despite being gods themselves.
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