God of War: Ragnarok has an ending that fulfills the arc of Kratos in a significant way. But what does that mean? Here, we will break down the ending of God of War Ragnarok.
God of War Ragnarok is the second game in the new God of War series. This game picks up about three years after the last one. And as the name suggests, it roughly follows the Norse mythology of Ragnarok to tell a wonderful tale of father and son with Kratos and Atreus.
Along with the story, the gameplay has also been built upon the previous game. Many of the abilities and upgrades you gained in the previous game linger in this game too. But that doesn’t mean the game doesn’t do anything to shake things up. You gain even more new abilities to use in this game.
Besides the combat, the story of God of War Ragnarok is also a delightful experience. And with everything wrapping up neatly to signal the end of the Norse saga, the ending naturally asks, what does everything mean and what is next for the game? That is what we are here to explain.
Read More: God of War Ragnarok: All Main & Side Characters
Ending Explained in God of War Ragnarok
After the death of Boulder in the God of War (2018), the first sign of Ragnarok starts to show. The long continuous winter, otherwise known as Fimblewinter, starts. And according to the prophecy, when the Fimbulwinter ends, Ragnarok will begin. And thus, we find ourselves in the middle of Fimbulwinter at the start of the game.
Since Ragnarok will be the end of Odin, he is trying to stop it. And in the previous game, we killed Odin and Freya’s son, so we will be preparing to take on Odin and reluctantly participate in Ragnarok for our own interest. But the game, from the start, makes sure to convey Kratos does not want another war and will do everything to avoid war as long as it keeps Atreus safe.
Thus we go on a journey to find Atreus, aka Loki’s role in all of this, and to gather powerful allies who can march against Odin when the time comes. There are a lot of details in the story, but since it is an ending explained and not a story article, we will not be going into the story details.
The Ending of God of War Ragnarok
Throughout the journey, Atreus goes from trying to initiate Ragnarok to trying to stop Ragnarok. At a point, he even works for Odin in hopes of stopping it because he saw in a prophecy mural that Kratos will die in the war. But in the end, all efforts go in vain, and the war starts.
At the end of the game, Odin marches on the other realm with his army, and we get to fight Thor for a second time, this time to death. But just before the finishing blows, Kratos stops. The journey he has been through with Atreus has changed him. He is no longer the violent man who wants to kill everything.
Unfortunately for Thor, Odin finishes him off because Thor is of no use to him anymore. Then we get to fight Odin and finally beat him to trap his soul in a marble. Sindri was not having it, so he shatters the marble to finish off Odin for good. Then Surtur comes and destroys Asgard with no warning. Thus, Fryer, Freya’s brother, sacrifices himself to get everyone else out of Asgard safely, and the day is won.
After talking to everyone and wrapping things up, we get an emotional scene with Kratos and Atreus where Atreus says he needs to go on his own journey and possibly find all the giants. This time, he will have to go alone. And Kratos, after a heartfelt goodbye, sends him off on his own.
What Does the Ending Mean for the Franchise?
At the very end, after Atreus leaves, Kratos finds a mural depicting his journey. And at the last page of the mural, he sees how everyone worships him. We see him get emotional and almost tear up in the scene, as this is the redemption he has been searching for ever since he left his homeland. Thus his journey has been fulfilled.
The way God of War Ragnarok ended kept things very open-ended as far as the future of this franchise is concerned. They can always tell another story based around on another mythology with Kratos. Even though he feels happy with his position for the first time in his life, there is always a story to tell where the past comes to hunt him again.
But if they want to complete Kratos’s legacy here and end his journey, they can do that too. We play as Atreus in different sections of the game. Thus a game depicting the journey of Atreus, where we will be playing as him, can also be a good direction to take the franchise into.
Of course, there is a possibility we will get to play as Freya and team with Tyr for a further journey since Freya had her own skill tree in the game. But that is highly unlikely since the devs said this is the end of the Norse saga for the God of War franchise.
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