Written by: Cristian Tapies
Most fairy tales are short, sweet, have a happy ending, and teach a simple lesson. From the cautionary tales surrounding Little Red Riding Hood, to the inner appreciation of beauty in Beauty and the Beast or the dangers of gluttony in Hansel and Gretel. Most fairy tales follow a kind of archetype of storytelling. Vladimir Propp so graciously termed these common tropes and themes into the Propp’s functions. These functions serve a great purpose in progressing a story and deepening the meaning underneath the text. But they don’t apply to just fairy tales, but to one of my favorite kinds of media, video games. Many triple-A quality video games use these tropes to enhance their story. One such example is the God of War 2018 and the God of War Ragnarök (2022) video games. These games are based on mythology and they balance fictional stories with the old myths to create new storylines. These games expertly combine and interweave common fairy tale elements to help streamline the story from many separate journeys to one rich narrative. This is something new that God of War is doing and something that many video game creators/developers can learn from.
The God of War franchise is an extremely successful video game series that follows an old (fictional) Greek god of war, Kratos. For the first 3 games based in Greek mythology, the players followed a story of rage and vengeance, but in the newer games based in Norse mythology. It’s a story of reconciliation and fatherhood. In both of the newer games, the largest selling and marketing point wasn’t Kratos and the continuation of his story. But his new child Atreus. Who, if looked at through the lens of a fairy tale, would undoubtedly be the main protagonist. Atreus and the role that he plays in the newer games is the key to utilizing these fairy tale elements that enhance such tales.
To keep the summary of the story brief. Once Atreus becomes a teenager, his mother dies and her dying wish is for Atreus and his father Kratos to spread her ashes on the highest peak in all the realms. Upon setting out on their journey, Kratos and Atreus encounter many allies, and many adversaries, the most notable of which being Odin, the power-hungry, knowledge-seeking king of all the realms. These allies and adversaries are what make the story so rich. Atreus is the key to all of these allies and adversaries because, throughout the entirety of the games, any attention to other characters and their storylines is initiated by Atreus. Kratos is reserved, stone-cold, and shows very little emotion. What is interesting is that each new adversary or ally seems to connect with a certain fairy tale function.
These functions help structure stories and understand why parts of a narrative are necessary for the overall product and are great additions to any kind of video game narrative. But their use in a video game is different from that of an actual fairy tale. Because most video games today explore an extremely comprehensive story with an extended run time. More of these elements can be expanded upon. What God of War does differently is interweave these functions into other characters’ stories to create a much richer narrative.
Some functions are blatantly present and serve a very specific purpose. For example the Absentation at the beginning of the first game. The death of the mother Faye is the very reason Kratos and Atreus set out on their journey. The reconnaissance function is most utilized by Odin, who uses his ravens to watch the player’s every move. But the functions that are most interwoven throughout the story are the Donor function. The struggle/conflicts between the protagonist and the antagonist. And the many interdictions throughout the story. These three functions are so ingrained into the narrative and streamline all the events into one story so well that this game won the award for “Best Narrative” at the 2022 Game Awards show. The equivalent of the Oscars for video games.
As said before, one of the functions that is ingrained into the story the most is the donor function. Near the beginning of the first game, you encounter Brok and Sindri, the master weaponsmiths, who happen to be brothers. Instead of serving their only purpose and giving Atreus a magical agent or helper. They have a story. Continuously throughout the first game, it’s drilled into your head that both brothers have a rough history and are constantly trying to one-up each other, helping the player upgrade resources and weapons and doing their best to be better than their brother. In addition to helping Kratos and Atreus on their journey with new quests and better rewards. Every time you encounter one of the brothers, they give your weapons an upgrade free of charge, to prove they are better than their brother at what they do. But this is only for the first game. At the climax of the first game, they reconcile with their past and decide to work together to fight Odin and continue to work together, for you, in the second game. Up until one of them gets murdered, but we’ll come back to that.
The brothers have a story that makes them notable characters and their presence always invokes feelings of safety within the game. In terms of analysis, they not only constantly provide items to the protagonist the way that a donor would in a fairy tale. But they have a story that isn’t isolated from the main characters. Their story begins when they realize you have the Leviathan Axe. Which the Huldra brothers crafted and gave to Faye when she was still alive. They also had goals and dreams of crafting the most destructive weapon in all the realms, and having it be wielded to take down the Norse gods. This destructive weapon came in the form of the Draunir spear given to Kratos. Yet another action a donor would typically have. What they also provide to the main characters is a different perspective. Similar to the dualistic nature of the playable characters Atreus and Kratos. Brok is a stone-cold worker who likes to fight, and Sindri is a calm weaponsmith who hates being dirty. The layout of their story is expertly littered throughout the narrative to give a deeper meaning to the dualistic nature of Kratos and Atreus. In an interview with the narrative leads and directors, the Huldra brother’s story was meant to be similar to the story of the two playable characters. The story of the Huldra brothers is always one step ahead but never carries the same weight to the story as the main characters do. Almost as if they hint at what comes next in the story. Thus providing not information to the characters, but directly to the player, although they just don’t know it yet. This expansion and elaboration of two characters that are only meant for one purpose, to be the donor, is why the narrative of these video games is so well done.
Another reason most video games tend to have more complete stories compared to other types of media is that they typically have long runtimes, especially in recent years. With certain games reaching upwards of 60+ hours of playtime. Narrative leads needed to find ways to keep players engaged in every aspect of the game, whether it be story, gameplay, or combat. What this leads to is not just one encounter with the final boss, but many encounters spanning the entire game, while not all encounters are fights, each moment that you share with the antagonist is information to the player that enhances the story. The God of War video games do this extremely well through the use of the Aesir gods, who are portrayed to be the main antagonists. Baldur, Magni & Modi, Thor, and the valkyries are characters you encounter many times each with their motives and priorities. This spread of antagonists that fall under the power of the one true villain Odin allows for the different characters to involve themselves in other plotlines, thus making for a more rich narrative. Two main plot points are worth noting in the context of a struggle/conflict between the antagonists and how they fit into the overarching theme of these games, which I may remind the reader, are reconciliation and fatherhood. These are the stories of Baldur and his hatred towards Freya, and Odin’s disguise leading to one of the most shocking events in recent gaming years.
The first of the two that occurs is the hatred of Baldur towards Freya. It is learned halfway through the first game that Baldur is invincible and can’t die. At the cost that he doesn’t feel anything, no pain and no pleasure. This is what Odin wants, a perfect tracker, an assassin that can’t die, doesn’t feel, and is under his control. But Freya, Baldur’s mother, is the character who laid the curse upon Baldur. Baldur was so torn at learning this fact that he attempted to murder his mother for the lifetime of pleasure she stole from him. This moment is where the player realizes the connection between Kratos and Atreus. Both stories involve a parent attempting to do their best for their son at any cost. But the difference is that Baldur is mature and much stronger than Freya, who doesn’t have the power to talk him down like Kratos does for Atreus.
The other plotline regarding Odin’s disguise is introduced before we are aware of it (disguises, right?) when Atreus is manipulated to join Odin and help him uncover a Norse secret. This entire section of the game is one large battle for intelligence, which Odin is adept at fighting with. Odin knows that Atreus doesn’t trust him fully, he is aware that at some point, Atreus will betray him. So Odin tricks Atreus, knowing Atreus thinks he tricked Odin, and does the same thing back to him. Odin disguises himself as Tyr. A character whose intelligence is sought after by Kratos. For hours worth of play time Odin now pulls the strings from every side of the battlefield. It’s only until Brok uncovers this trickery that Odin stabs Brok and reveals himself in one swift motion. This death is the motivation for the final battle of the series.
The last function that is truly ingrained in the games is interdiction. The players have always known that Kratos is a badass character who can topple over anyone who stands before him, a rage-induced warrior meant for one thing, to fight. So seeing Kratos in his best attempt to raise a child after his skin was stained with the ashes of his daughter he was tricked into killing (harsh backstory) would surely make for an interesting story. It’s the father-son dynamic that carries the story throughout both of the newer games and is the reason it has received so much praise upon release.
Throughout the game, Kratos is grappling with trying to raise his son in a world in which he has to fight, as said by Richard Gobert, the lead writer “His greatest fear is that he’s passed that evil that’s inside of him, onto his son.” Kratos is constantly commanding Atreus to show mercy and prevent combat. While also teaching him to not show remorse or regret for killing. These are extreme teachings for an impulsive teenager. After enough pushback from an arrogant Atreus, Kratos snaps “You are quick to temper! You are rash! Insubordinate! And out of control! You will honor your mother and abandon this path you have chosen” The constant back and forth is very well placed in the narrative to create a story about gods and legends, and yet still feel relatable. After all, who hasn’t been mad at their parents and wanted to test how far they could push their parents’ patience? It’s the dichotomy of two characters who have extreme methods to portray emotion and their constant fighting/reconciliation and eventual learning and mutual respect that create this amazing narrative that never gets tiring.
All of these functions and scenes are expertly placed throughout the video game to provide great stories for players. But this essay wasn’t about the functions themselves, it was about how they are all connected, how they interweave and streamline the story. While it may seem that all that has been analyzed is three separate plotlines. They connect in the best ways. It’s hard to see the connections between every plotline with every other if you haven’t played the game before. But in my best attempt to do so, I will portray it as such.
Soon after Atreus and Kratos begin their journey, they meet Brok and Sindri, the weaponsmiths who despise one another due to the conflicting values of forging weapons for Odin. This is because Odin seeks to avoid his death prophecy by any means necessary. By weapons or curses, one such curse is to prevent the death of the trigger of his prophecy, which happens to be the death of Baldur. Odin convinces Freya to place a curse on her son to make him immortal at the cost of everything that he cares about. Baldur then uncovers this truth through tracking Kratos and Atreus. Baldur then attempts to murder Freya and is interrupted by Kratos. This causes Kratos to reflect on the ways he teaches his son. This reconciliation repairs the broken and separated nature of the father and the son. This act then inspires Brok and Sindri to also reconcile their past and work together. All to defeat Odin who has been manipulating everything, every step of the way.
This extremely short description of the series perfectly showcases how these games expertly interweave fairy tale elements to help streamline many different plots into one story. This is the exact reason that God of War Ragnarök won best narrative. This style of storytelling needs to be used more for video games to enhance narratives more than ever before. Richard Gobert used this technique extremely well but only utilized a fraction of the Propp’s functions. There are so many possibilities in combining more fairy tale elements into one plotline that allow for so many more stories to be told. And nowadays with more video games reaching those 60+ hours of runtime, there are all the more possibilities for amazing narratives to experience.
