God of War returned to much critical and commercial success with 2018’s video game titled the same as the series’ name. The game brought along new gods to add to the mythology of the storyline, which meant new gods for Kratos to lock horns with. Previously, we had an abundance of gods show up when the series was focused on the Greek gods, and they were all taken out by Kratos. Some gods were more powerful than others, and these would play the role of the main antagonists of the various games Kratos was featured in.

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Whenever you think of God of War, your mind goes to all the different ways Kratos has ended the lives of his victims – these include almost all the gods from Greece. Since Kratos is the main character, it’s obvious he’ll come out on top, but that doesn’t mean the gods he fought were weak by any means. These gods were of different aspects as well; all of them controlled some element key to the world, and their demises by God of War III meant that the Greek world was no longer active. With Kratos now destined to play a part in Ragnarok, which is meant to be showcased in the following God of War games, you can bet many more Norse gods will be showing up as well.

That said, we're only including characters Kratos has fought or have actually appeared physically in the games. So, major characters like Morpheus from Chains of Olympus or Artemis sadly don't quite make the cut since they never appeared in the flesh at any point.

Updated July 27, 2021 by Jacob Buchalter: With God of War Ragnarok getting delayed until 2022 and the enhancement update for God of War (2018) that gave more performance options for PS5 players, now seems like a good time to take another look back at all the icons of Greek and Norse mythology that Kratos has wiped from this realm. Originally, this list didn't contain Titans, but, considering they were the Gods before the Olympic Gods, and Demi-God warriors were already included, a few have been handpicked to add to the rankings. We've also gone through and gone a bit into the specific special abilities each character has in the God of War franchise.

Disclaimer: For those seeing a lot of repeats in the "Supernatural Abilities" sections for characters, Immortality basically means they're a god, Superhuman Abilities means they have god-like durability, strength, and so on, and anything marked with "Extreme" is a trait that seems to exceed what even the Gods usually have.

25 Atreus

God Of War 2018 - Kratos Lovingly Touching Atreus' Face
  • Game Debut: God of War (2018)
  • Supernatural Abilities: Immortality, Superhuman Abilities, Innate Language Powers, Mind/Emotion Reading
  • Historical Background: Norse Mythology as Loki the Trickster God

A lot happened between the end of God of War 3 and the start of God of War (2018). But, the biggest changes were Kratos' new calmer temperament, the change in location, and the appearance of Kratos' son, Atreus. It was shown at the end of 2018’s God of War that Atreus was fated to be the one to take down all of Asgard one day; however, for the time being, he’s still just a kid and his powers are nothing compared to the rest of the gods we’ve seen. He's coming into his own as a god, only having just found out he is one, and it'll be interesting to see how his future abilities blend Norse concepts with Greek ones.

As of yet, Atreus has only shown himself to be great with a bow and arrow, durable as a demi-god/lesser god as well as having enough skills to take down a number of monsters. Those are mad skills for a child, and he’ll only grow with power as the years go on, and here's hoping those rumors about him being playable in the sequel, God of War: Ragnarok, turn out to be true.

24 Perseus

God Of War 2 - Kratos Encountering Perseus For The First Time
  • Game Debut: God of War
  • Supernatural Abilities: Superhuman Life-Span, Superhuman Abilities, A collection of Godly Artifacts
  • Historical Background: Greek Mythos as the Legendary Hero who killed the Gorgon Medusa

Despite being the brother of Kratos (which, as you'll find out, is one of many brothers), Perseus held no qualms in his attempts to take Kratos’ life. From what we saw of him, he must have been a great warrior seeing as he had gotten quite far in his quest to find the Sisters of Fate. But this quest seems to have driven the guy over the edge, and his dependence on his god-given artifacts doesn't fully compensate for his less-than-superhuman physical abilities.

Perseus’ weaponry was incredible in that he could cause Kratos to lose his focus through blinding light; he could become invisible; he could also throw projectiles and slow down time. All this weaponry was used in tandem, but Perseus’ strength and speed were still no match for Kratos. Basically, he's a fairly capable warrior who had a bunch of toys way above his pay scale, and it shows.

23 Aphrodite

God Of War 3 - Aphrodite Attempting To Seduce Kratos
  • Game Debut: God of War
  • Supernatural Abilities: Astral Projection, Superhuman Abilities, Immortality, Supernatural Attraction, Beauty Pacification
  • Historical Background: Greek Mythos as the Goddess Of Love

The only power Aphrodite ever displayed was the ability to turn Medusa’s head into a weapon for Kratos. After that, she disappeared until God of War III, where all she did was attempt to seduce Kratos and save her own skin.

This is why Aphrodite shows up near the bottom as we only know of her status as a God, meaning she must have all the standard powers they have, but her specific powers are a complete mystery. In fact, no one even knows what became of her as this scene with her in God of War III is the last she's ever been seen. In battle, Aphrodite is likely quite weak.

22 Eos

God Of War Chains Of Olympus - Eos Asking Kratos To Find Her Brother
  • Game Debut: God of War: Chains of Olympus
  • Supernatural Abilities: Unknown, but very likely the same powers as her brother, Helios
  • Historical Background: Greek Mythos as the Titan Goddess of the Dawn

Eos didn’t showcase any of her powers in her lone appearance in God of War: Chains of Olympus, but she was still the only god left standing when all others had been put to slumber by Morpheus. This shows that she must have some enhanced resilience compared to the other gods.

Being the sister of Helios, it can be assumed she shares powers and traits with her brother, which would mean she can control aspects of the sun. But, with her brother's disappearance, her powers quickly dwindled. It's unclear if the same would happen to Helios if Eos disappeared, but after he dies in God of War III, we can only assume she slowly faded from existence not long after.

21 Hera

God Of War 3 - Hera Looking Down At Kratos Below In Disgust
  • Game Debut: God of War III
  • Supernatural Abilities: Control over plants, Teleportation, Superhuman Abilities, Immortality
  • Historical Background: Greek Mythos as the Queen of Olympus and Goddess of Marriage

It only took a simple snap of the neck for Kratos to take Hera’s life. Typically, Hera is envisioned as the Goddess of Law and Marriage, but for some reason, the team at Santa Monica Studio's retconned her into the Goddess of plant life as well, as her demise immediately caused all plant life in the world to die.

This would mean Hera had abilities tied to nature, making her indeed quite powerful. Most other media portraying Hera puts her on almost equal footing to Zeus in fact. However, we never saw her display any of these powers and all she did was gloat in Kratos’ face, so this is as far as this version of her is able to go.

20 Hephaestus

God Of War 3 - Hephaestus Getting Up Close And Personal To Talk To Kratos
  • Game Debut: God of War III
  • Supernatural Abilities: Pyrokinesis, Superhuman Abilities, Gigantic Size, Immortality, Electrokinesis, Supernatural Smithing Abilities
  • Historical Background: Greek Mythos as the Craftsman God and God of Fire and Volcanoes

All the gods came to Hephaestus to forge their greatest weapons, and he remained in good standing with Zeus until Kratos overcame Pandora’s temple. Hephaestus’ alchemy was such that he created a sentient being in Pandora, who would eventually become the key to ending Zeus himself.

His knack for creating weaponry meant he could basically create something out of almost nothing. And, with his immunity to fire/magma and elemental affinities, Hephaestus had all the qualities of a truly powerful god, except for combat prowess, which is why he's this low in the rankings.

19 Theseus

God of War 2 - Talking With Theseus Before Fighting Him
  • Game Debut: God of War II
  • Supernatural Abilities: Superhuman Life-Span, Water/Ice Control, Superhuman Abilities, Ability to summon Erebus Minotaurs
  • Historical Background: Greek Mythos as a Legendary Greek Hero and son of Poseidon

It was unfortunate for the son of Poseidon that he came across Kratos when he was old and past his prime, or else he might’ve fared better. Theseus was a great warrior of Greece and he certainly lived up to the billing by giving Kratos a good fight. As the son of the King of the Sea, Theseus had some ice/water controlling abilities as well.

He also had summoning powers which made him able to call out Minotaurs to do his bidding, which makes sense since slaying a Minotaur is what he's known for. But, In the end, Theseus was just too old and inexperienced to truly test Kratos to his limits.

18 Modi & Magni

God Of War 2018 - Screencaps Of Both Modi And Magni Up Close
  • Game Debut: God of War (2018)
  • Supernatural Abilities: Immortality, Superhuman Abilities, Excessive Strength, Electrokinesis
  • Historical Background: Norse Mythos as Thor’s two children who will survive Ragnarok

Kratos was a lot weaker in 2018’s God of War than he had been in earlier installments. He's tired, doesn't have most of his array of godly artifacts, and uses a magical ax rather than his tried-and-true chain blades. But, even in his prime, these two sons of Thor would still have likely given Kratos a bit of a hard time.

Their electric manipulating abilities are troublesome even if they're on a way smaller scale than their fathers, and the physical strength of the sibling duo should not be underestimated. And, in a 2v2 versus Kratos and Atreus, it was a very good fight, where the father and son duo had to bring out the best in themselves to defeat them.

17 The Furies

God Of War Ascension - All Three Furies Up Close
  • Game Debut: God of War: Ascension
  • Supernatural Abilities: Superhuman Abilities, Immortality, Shape-Shifting, Illusion Conjuring, Parasite Secretion, Ink/Black Goo Creation, Black Magic, Creature Summoning,
  • Historical Background: Greek Mythos as deities that work for Hades and oversee punishment of specific sins

The Three Fury sisters are the ones that serve as the main antagonists of God of War: Ascension. They're pretty unique characters with abilities that easily put them on par or above some of the lesser gods. Granted, the God of War series takes a very unique spin on these characters, changing up a lot about their designs and abilities, but these deviations are also the reason they're so memorable, thinking back on it. To go into each sister individually:

  • First up is Megara, Goddes of Jealousy who looks a lot different from the usual representations of the character. This version of her has spider limbs coming out of her back and the ability to summon a swarm of insect-like parasites that infect and corrupt flesh.
  • Then comes Tisiphone, the Goddess of Murder in charge of those who commit acts of murderous vengeance including patricide or matricide. Tisiphone is the illusionist of the group, constantly hiding within her illusions before stealthily attacking her target from behind using her black magic pet Daimos.
  • Last up is Alecto, leader of the sisters, Goddess of Anger, and the Fury who can turn into a giant sea Kraken for some reason. Why? Who knows, but she can also use black goo (probably ink) to restrain someone even as strong as Kratos, and seems to be the most all-around capable of the three.

16 Persephone

God Of War Chains Of Olympus - Talking With Persephone Right Before Her Boss Battle
  • Game Debut: God of War: Chains of Olympus
  • Supernatural Abilities: Immortality, Superhuman Abilities, Domain Over Souls, Telekinesis, Flight, Energy Manipulation
  • Historical Background: Greek Mythos as the Goddess of Spring and Queen of the Underworld

Being the wife of Hades, Persephone is technically the Queen of the Underworld, yet she didn’t have nearly as much power as her husband. And, Kratos' fight against her compared to many of the other god-vs-god showdowns throughout the franchise is pretty weak.

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However, Kratos still needed the Gauntlet of Zeus to end her life, meaning Persephone was still a durable as any other god. In her fight, she displayed strong levels of telekinetic powers, as well as flight with extreme levels of speed. But, oddly enough, she rarely exhibited any of the abilities a Queen of the Underworld should have. Maybe this was an act of defiance against Hades.

15 Hercules

God Of War 3 - Hercules Staring Down At Kratos Before His Boss Fight
  • Game Debut: God of War III
  • Supernatural Abilities: Extreme Strength, Superhuman Abilities, Superhuman Life-Span, Extreme Reflexes, Extreme Dexterity
  • Historical Background: Greek Mythos as the Legendary Hero of the 12 Labors

Of all the champion children of Zeus, Hercules was the most powerful of them, well...other than Kratos. Hercules even at the end of God of War II's cutscene seemed to have already ascended to Demi-God status and had long surpassed his 12th labor. Now, this rendition of Hercules was big...real big. His stature was such that he literally towered over Kratos both in height and muscle mass.

Hercules also had the ability to make monsters do his bidding, something very few warriors had shown. He went toe-to-toe with Kratos in the brawling department and was successful to a great degree as well. It’s clear Hercules had the strength to defeat other gods and is likely the strongest of the Greek Heroes turned Demi-God, but he still probably wouldn't have won out against some of the tougher gods in the halls of Olympus.

14 The Valkyries

A screenshot of the Valkyrie Queen flying towards you.
  • Game Debut: God of War (2018)
  • Supernatural Abilities: Flight, Immortality, Superhuman Abilities, Extreme Combat Mastery, Elemental Manipulation, Vanir Magical Abilities, Weapon Conjuring, Summoning
  • Historical Background: Norse Mythos as deities that take fallen warriors to Valhalla

Like the Furies, the Valkyries of Norse mythos are a third-party type of deity meant for a very specific purpose, that purpose being guiding the souls of accomplished warriors to Valhalla. In the 2018 God of War, you’ll have a side-objective spanning the entire campaign of freeing all the Valkyries from the physical forms that they were cursed to be stuck inside of by Odin, and each fight is obscenely difficult. To quickly name them all, there’s Gunnr, Geirdriful, Eir, Kara, Rota, Olrun, Gondul, Hildr, their ex-leader Freya, and their current queen Sigrun. Each Valkyrie had a different specialization, and they all used minor forms of magic.

What’s weird is that the “power level” of Valkyries changes drastically from story to story. In the mythos, Valkyries are well-respected but not strong compared to Thor or Odin. But, in God of War, Freya with her wings might just be enough to give Kratos a real run for his money. So, it’s hard to say where exactly they’d stack up in regards to all the other gods seen in these games.

13 Helios

God Of War 3 - Helios Crawling From His Wrecked Chariot After Being Shot Down By Kratos
  • Game Debut: God of War: Chains of Olympus
  • Supernatural Abilities: Light Control, Conjuring Fireballs, Extreme Durability, Superhuman Abilities, Immortality
  • Historical Background: Greek Mythos as the Titan God of the Sun

Judging by his powers, and the fact that he's a Titan, Helios must have been a top dog in Olympus. So, it was extra insulting that such a powerful existence was related to the lantern of the man bent on bringing down Olympus.

Helios, even in his weakened state, could temporarily blind Kratos when he caught him off-guard and had pyrokinesis as well. Plus, he's a Titan, so he had tons of advantages over Kratos, but sadly their fight wasn't exactly fair.

12 Hermes

God Of War 3 - Hermes Taunting Kratos While Keeping His Distance Before His Boss Fight
  • Game Debut: God of War III
  • Supernatural Abilities: Extreme Speed, Defying Gravity, Super-Jumping, Immortality, Superhuman Abilities
  • Historical Background: Greek Mythos as the God of Speed, Travel, Communication, and Athletics

Arrogance can be the end of you, and Hermes is the perfect example to back this statement up. He had Kratos on the ropes during their confrontation, but he just had to get all cocky and let his guard down.

Hermes’ speed was incredible, to the point where Kratos couldn’t even land a single hit on him. Had Hermes not wasted all his time joking around, he could’ve potentially finished Kratos off. Compared to some of the more flash powers like pyrokinesis or summoning lightning, super speed might seem a little dull, but Hermes proves once again that it's a power that has the potential to surpass all others.

11 Freya

God Of War 2018 - Freya Talking To Kratos In Their Fist Meeting
  • Game Debut: God of War (2018)
  • Supernatural Abilities: Mastery of Vanir Magic, Valkyrie-related Powers, Immortality, Superhuman Abilities
  • Historical Background: Norse Mythos as the Queen of the Valkyries and Wife of Odin

Whenever Kratos and Atreus had any magical troubles in the most recent game, they would head off to Freya's magic cottage for help. And, in terms of Vanir magic, there's no one better. Using it, she can make someone invulnerable, revive the dead, heal would, curse people, cure curses, and so much more.

She was able to enchant Baldur to feel nothing for a century, and she didn’t have any fear of Kratos even when the latter was threatening her. Her promise of raining every kind of pain on Kratos didn’t seem to be empty threats; she genuinely believed it. And we’re inclined to believe she has the power to pull it off as well. She was already fearsome enough in GoW (2018) and it's very likely she'll return in an even scarier, winged form in God of War: Ragnarok, as before the events of GoW (2018) even started, Freya had already had her wings stolen from her by Odin.

10 Gaia

God Of War 3 - Gaia Staring Down Kratos At The Beginning Before They Start Fighting
  • Game Debut: God of War II
  • Supernatural Abilities: Omniscience, Geokinesis, Giant-Size, Telepathy, Astral Projection, Superhuman Abilities, Immortality, Control over Plant Life, Domain over the Earth itself
  • Historical Background: Greek Mythos as the Primordial Titan Goddess of Life and Mother Earth herself

Gaia plays too much of a primary role in the God of War series for her not to be included on this list. She’s the primary narrator for many of the games, the one who carries Kratos up to Mount Olympus at the beginning of GoW3, and the great-grandmother of all the Olympic Gods themselves. She’s Mother Earth, the Goddess of Life, and the one who saved Zeus from Chronos when he was a baby.

In terms of her powers, Gaia has quite a few, but her sheer size, strength, and the overall control she has over plants and earth greatly overshadow any of her other abilities. But, after all is said and done, Gaia only really ends looking like a big flailing mass of rock in combat. The only thing truly difficult about fighting her is actually managing to kill her, yet Kratos does just that and even stabs through Zeus himself into her heart for the final blow in GoW3.

9 Athena

God Of War 2018 - Kratos Riding With The Spirit Of Athena After Getting His Blades Of Chaos Back
  • Game Debut: God of War
  • Supernatural Abilities: Immortality, Superhuman Abilities, Astral Projection, Possessing Inanimate Objects, Flight, Telekinesis, Weapon Creation, Genius-Level Wisdom, Shape-Shifting.
  • Historical Background: Greek Mythos as the Goddess of Wisdom and War

In the actual Greek Myth detailing Athena's birth, the Goddess of Wisdom jumps out from Zeus' head, already fully grown. And, in a lot of ways, Athena is one of the only Olympic gods able to content with Zeus, and also one of his most trustworthy allies. In fact, Athena even sacrifices herself for Zeus before he's killed by Kratos, and somehow even manages to come back in an ethereal form after death.

We don't really get to see her fight throughout the God of War games, but we did know that she was insanely powerful. So much so, that almost every god seen talking with or about Athena would show her respect, which is usually a clear-cut sign of her charisma, strength, and intellect. Her appearance in the 2018 game was so unexpected, and the impact of it was something that sadly flew over the heads of a lot of people, as it turns out.

8 Baldur

God Of War 2018 - Baldur Staring Down Kratos In His Introduction Fight
  • Game Debut: God of War (2018)
  • Supernatural Abilities: Extreme Strength, Invulnerability, Limitless Stamina, Superhuman Abilities, Immortality, Light Manipulation, Self-Resurrection, Elemental Absorption
  • Historical Background: Norse Mythos as the Aesir God of Light and Son of Odin

On the face of it, Baldur looks frail and weak, but we all saw how difficult it was for Kratos to put him away, especially in the first fight. Baldur had super strength around the same as Kratos, but it was his inability to feel anything, pain, tiredness, or even emotions that gave him the edge.

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Thanks to the curse/blessing Freya placed upon him, Baldur is quite literally unkillable. It took mistakenly being stabbed by Mistletoe to finally defeat him. Had Baldur not been a raging inferno of hatred and actually fought intelligently or used strategy, he likely would've put an end to Kratos and Atreus.

7 Poseidon

God Of War 3 - Poseidon Controlling A Water Form In His Bossfight At The Beginning Of GoW3
  • Game Debut: God of War
  • Supernatural Abilities: Atmokinesis, Storm Creation, Cryokinesis, Hydrokinesis, Electrokinesis, Immortality, Superhuman Abilities, Shape-Shifting, Flight, Astral Projection, Teleportation, Creature Control
  • Historical Background: Greek Mythos as the God of the Sea and King of the Oceans

The god of the seas gave Kratos the fight of his life (and a real visual spectacle) in the opening of God of War III. Poseidon would come close to beating Kratos as he made full use of his underwater powers by projecting himself as a giant monster. It makes sense that he would be so difficult to beat, considering he ruled the entire seas and had been around for longer than even Zeus himself.

It would take Kratos using his tactical abilities, and an assist from Gaia, to beat Poseidon once and for all. However, even though he showed amazing powers like summoning mythical beasts, reigning terror on the Titans with his hydrokinesis, or even his power of flight, he was killed by Kratos in such a demeaning way, as Kratos simply broke his neck rather than killing him with a godly artifact/weapon as he did for many of the other gods.

6 Hades

God Of War 3 - Facing Down Hades Before His Big Boss Fight Starts
  • Game Debut: God of War III
  • Supernatural Abilities: Control over Death itself, Immortality, Superhuman Abilities, Necromancy, Invulnerability, Pyrokinesis, Shape-Shifting, Soul Control, Umbrakinesis
  • Historical Background: Greek Mythos as the God of Death and King of the Underworld

Hades put up a bigger fight than Poseidon as he had Kratos cornered in his piece of the underworld where Poseidon had to bring the ocean to Kratos. Now, Hades is the oldest of the three Olympic brothers (Zeus, Poseidon, Hades), and is also the most twisted. His wife didn't love him, he governs the realm meant for torturing human souls, and he's almost entirely ignored or detested by the other gods on Mount Olympus. All this combined must have played a big part in Hades becoming the twisted and masochistic god he was when Kratos fought him.

As for examples of his abilities, Hades had complete control of the souls of the underworld, who would instantly consume the lives of anyone that fell into the River Styx. He also seems to be able to control shadows/darkness to a degree and is the definition of a necromancer. In regards to his weapons, Hades’ hooks had such enormous power that he was able to take the souls of even the Titans that predated him. But, the toughest part about him was how unkillable the guy was. It took Kratos everything he had to damage him, and the only way he was able to win was by using Hades' own hooks to rip his soul out.